


Maty

by Fanbabs



Series: The Road Less Traveled [1]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Angst, Domestic, Engaged, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-04-27 18:55:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 35,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14431971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanbabs/pseuds/Fanbabs
Summary: Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich are living together and are getting married soon, when one morning Mickey's mother appears.Set 6 years after season 7. Mickey is back from Mexico/out of jail and living with Ian.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first try of a fanfic. i hope it didn't suck. I'm always open for criticism so go ahead ;)  
> I don't know how long this is going to be but I have a story planned in my head, so I hope I can upload regularly.
> 
> Also note that English is not my first language, so please excuse any mistakes. I'll try and correct them if you point them out to me.

Mickey woke up by the smell of eggs and bacon from the kitchen. Ian must have been up already preparing breakfast. He sat up slowly scratching his belly and yawning loudly to the empty bedroom. It had only been a week since they moved to their first own apartment, yet it already felt like home. He looked around, gathering a clean t-shirt and sweatpants from the drawer and making his way to the kitchen. 

Ian stood in front of the counter shuffling eggs and bacon on two plates when Mickey gently laid his hands on his hips from behind, putting his chin on Ian’s shoulder. “What? No goodmornin’ blowjob or anythin’?”, he asked playfully. Ian chuckled. “Didn’t get enough from last night, huh?”, he smirked and put down the pan in the sink. “Can never get enough of your crazy ass!”, Mickey grinned fetching a piece of bacon from one of the plates and shoving it in his mouth. Ian took the plates and brought them to the small table next to the kitchen along with two cups of coffee. They sat down to eat, still eying each other like two horny teenagers. 

Mickey loved these quiet mornings. He loved the quiet especially. The last two years neither of them had any quiet with Ian still living in the Gallagher house with what felt like a billion siblings and Mickey living with two roommates in a small shitty apartment a couple of blocks down from where they lived now. It had been okay before but they were more than grateful when Fiona offered to rent them one of her apartments. Now that they were getting married soon. 

Married. 

Mickey still couldn’t wrap his head around it. Ten years ago he would have never imagined to marry Ian Gallagher at some point, but today was a different Mickey. A happier Micky. And a Mickey that was trying everyday. That was improving everyday. All for this red-headed dork that was sitting next to him. He smiled up at him before he grabbed Ian’s neck and pulled him in for a tender kiss. All worth it, he thought. 

“So, uh I start my shift at 11 and I think I’ll be done around 8… wanna pick me up from work so we can get to Fi’s?”, Ian asked shoving another fork of eggs in his mouth. Mickey raised his eyebrows in question. “That was today?”, he grunted in his cup of coffee. Ian nodded. “Yeah I told you three times already and don’t even look at me like that! We can’t skip again or Fi will tear us a new one.”

Mickey supposed he was right. Fiona could be a pain in the ass sometimes but she also helped with the whole apartment thing. Spending an evening with the rest of the Gallaghers should be alright. “Fine, whatever… I’ll pick you up!”, he said while standing up and taking his plate to the sink. “Got nothin’ better to do anyway.” Ian smiled that hundred Watt smile and Mickey couldn’t help but return it. He grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the counter and a lighter, pressed a soft kiss on Ian’s cheek and headed out on the balcony. 

The cold air bit his skin as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He took a long drag and enjoyed the soothing effect of the nicotine running through his lungs. He heard the door bell inside and saw Ian quickly running to the door. Probably just another parcel arriving for who knows who filled with useless who knows what from some stupid TV commercial.

Mickey kept his eyes on the hallway waiting for Ian to return with the neighbors parcel. After two minutes he couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t the parcel service, so he stomped out his cigarette and went back inside. 

He heard Ian talking when he closed the balcony door. “… sorry, I’m going to look for him. Please wait here!” Mickey was halfway trough the kitchen when Ian suddenly appeared with a confused look on his face. “Mick, there is a woman at the door for you...”, he said carefully. Mickey frowned. “A woman?!”, he repeated slowly. Ian nodded. Ian knew all the women in his life. It was strange that somebody turned up just for him. 

He took a step towards the hallway when all of a sudden a short woman, probably in her forty’s with dark long hair and blue eyes, just like Mickey’s, appeared. Mickey stopped and stared at her in shock. She put a soft smile on her face when she saw him standing there glued to the spot. He knew that woman. He knew her well. Although he hadn’t seen that smile in 20 years he remembered very well who she was.

Ian looked at her. Looked at him. And back to her. Not knowing what to make of the situation. “So… you know her or..?”, he asked carefully. Mickey swallowed, not taking his eyes of the woman in front of him, mumbling one simple word that Ian didn’t quite understand. “Maty”.

 

Ian looked puzzled at Mickey. He had never heard him speak the language he just spoke with the woman but he seemed to be angry. It took Mickey just a second to make the woman leave with his yelling. She looked sad when she closed the door behind her but she also seemed like she hadn’t expect anything else.

Mickey stomped furiously to the bedroom to get ready for work. Ian followed him, still not quite sure what to make of the situation. “Who was that?”, he asked Mickey cautiously. “Nobody important!”, he snorted, while loosing the sweatpants and grabbing a pair of Jeans from the floor. “Didn’t seem like someone unimportant if you’re getting that mad...”, Ian pointed out with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Mickey rolled his eyes and sighed. “Doesn’t matter anyway!”  
Ian still couldn’t let it go. “What kind of language was that? I didn’t even know you were speaking another language!” Mickey fumbled with one of the legs of his Jeans. “Well, you can take a wild guess!”, he shot back looking angrily at Ian. Ian returned the look but said nothing, insisting on a more satisfying answer from Mickey. 

Mickey sat down on the bed. He sighed. He didn’t want Ian to be angry with him or leave him in the dark with it all. He ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. 

“The woman… her name is Anastasia and she… sort of is my mother.”, he said thoughtfully, “and the language was Ukrainian.” Ian could just stare at him unbelievingly. “Your mother? Seriously?”, he raised his eyebrows in question, “I thought she was dead?! You told me she was dead!” Mickey shrugged, raising a hand and letting it fall on his knee again. “I didn’t know it any better! One day she just wasn’t there anymore. My dad used to tell us she was dead! I just always assumed he had killed her at some point.”, Mickey answered defensively. He dropped his gaze to the floor thinking. “So… if you haven’t seen her in all these years…”, Ian continued, “why the fuck did you throw her out then?” Mickey looked up at him. The anger in his eyes had returned. “Because if she wasn’t dead all these years, she was very much alive and that means she fuckin’ abandoned us, okay?”, he yelled.

Mickey stood up quickly and walked towards the hallway. Ian was following him on his heels. “You don’t know her reasons… knowing your dad she probably had some good reasons to leave!”, Ian pointed out. He grabbed Mickey by his shoulder and turned him around. Mickey shook his hand off. “Ian don’t start this with me!”, he said still angry, “I don’t care for her reasons and I don’t give a shit about her still being alive! If she couldn’t stop by to say hello the past twenty years than I don’t need her in my life now!” Ian looked at him kind of hurt and Mickey suddenly felt sorry for the harsh words. He put a hand on Ian’s neck and pulled him close to look him in the eye. “Look, I don’t care for that part of my family anymore… The only family I have is you and Yevgeny, so please just drop it, okay? I’ll see you later!” He gave Ian a quick kiss and was out the door. Ian looked after him wondering if Mickey really meant what he had said.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian is pushy and Mickey has finally had it. Don't worry though nobody's splitting up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kind comments and kudos! I appreciate it very much. Hope I can keep on writing like I do! I have a blast! Again any kind of criticism is greatly appreciated as well. I want to improve my writing skills so if you can think of something let me hear it. Like, do I write detailed enough? Am I missing something? Did I forget to explain something that is important for the story? Thanks in advance :)
> 
> Also please note there are mentions of rape and violence in this chapter.

Ian waited for Mickey outside the station. It had been a long day and although Ian didn’t smoke anymore he wished he had a cigarette right now. He recalled the fight he had had with Mickey in the morning over and over again. How Mickey had yelled in Ukrainian and how he just didn’t want to talk about it all. It just had all been so weird with his mother showing up out of the blue.

Ian knew that much like himself Mickey hadn’t had the best of childhoods. The constant abuse of his father had left deep scars, Mickey would probably never admit to, yet Ian had always been able to see them. When Mickey started to act all angry and defensive there was usually something working inside him. And Mickey had never even talked about his mother before. The only thing Ian had known about her was what Mandy had told him about her and that wasn’t even true anymore.

What Mickey didn’t know yet was that Ian had been looking for Anastasia after Mickey had gone to work. He had found her next to a car a block down from where they lived, crying. Ian had noted down her address and phone number in case Mickey would want to talk to her someday. Of course Anastasia was more than happy to give him the information. Ian liked her. She seemed to be a sweet person although he could see the pain in her blue eyes. The same eyes as Mickey’s. The same pain as Mickey’s. 

Ian took a deep breath wondering how he would talk to Mickey about it without him freaking out again. He was just about to think of something when Mickey pulled over to the station with his car.

 

The car ride to the Gallagher house was quiet at first but the silence was uncomfortable. Ian knew Mickey was thinking about this morning. Probably had thought about it all day. He took a deep breath. “Mick?”, Ian spoke cautiously. “Mmh?”, Mickey grunted. “I know you’ll probably be mad at me for saying this but I really think you should go see your mother!” Ian said looking worried at Mickey. 

Mickey snorted. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ Gallagher when will you let this go already?!”, he asked annoyed. “I’ll let this go if you do”, Ian quickly responded, “I know that you think about her and don’t even tell me you don’t! I know you do! I just think you need to sort this out! At least listen to her what she has got to say!” Mickey snorted again but said nothing in return. They stopped in front of the Gallagher house and got out of the car. 

Ian still wanted an answer. He knew Mickey didn’t want to face all this but he was sure that it would help him in one way or another. Mickey had always needed a little push in the right direction. This was no different.

Mickey went up the stairs but Ian still stood by the gate. “I have her address and phone number in case you want to talk to her.”, Ian declared calmly, his eyes stuck to Mickey’s back as he suddenly froze in his step. He took a deep breath and turned around to face Ian. “And what exactly makes you think I should talk to my mother?”, he asked anger rising in his voice.

Ian looked at him without flinching. He wasn’t afraid of his boyfriend although he knew that many people probably wouldn’t want a Milkovich look at them like that. “You should just let her explain! Maybe have some kind of relationship with her… I don’t know!”, Ian tried to convince him, “She doesn’t seem so bad I mean at least she’s not a bipolar nutcase like my mum was!” Mickey ran his hand over his face clearly trying to calm down. He looked like he was trying to decide whether or not he should start a big yelling contest. He sighed turned around again and walked towards the door, leaving Ian where he was standing, at the gate.

 

When Mickey entered the Gallagher house he was fit to be tied. He didn’t care if Ian was still standing outside. He didn’t want to talk about it and Ian just had to accept that. He tried to put on a smile when Fiona approached him from the kitchen. 

“Hey you!”, she greeted him happily when she pulled him in for a quick hug, “Where’d you leave my brother?” Mickey was about to answer when Ian appeared behind him. “Right here! And starving!”, he said smiling the broad Gallagher smile and pulling her into hug as well. Fucking Gallaghers always so fuckin’ cheery, Mickey thought grumpily. “Well that’s good news! Debbie just bailed on us, so I guess you have to make up for her!”, Fiona chuckled.

The dinner table was already set, when they all entered the kitchen. Liam ran around putting napkins next to everyone’s plate, while Lip was stirring a big pot of what looked like tomato sauce on the stove. Mickey tried hard to keep a friendly face. He did those family meetings because Ian loved them and he wouldn’t probably have agreed to move in with him if he didn’t join them at least once a month. They greeted each other with quick hugs before they all sat down to eat and the chitchat between the Gallagher siblings begun.

“So, any news on the wedding planning?”, Fiona asked curiously after they had been quiet for a while. Mickey was lost in his thoughts and didn’t pay any attention to the conversation. Luckily Ian answered before it stroke anyone. “Not much, we’ll send out invitations soon, but we still have to go through the guest list again.” Mickey was about to take a big gulp of beer when he choked at Ian’s words. He coughed a couple of times and Ian patted his back, looking at him worriedly. 

“Guest list?”, he gasped with a sore throat and gave Ian a questioning look, “We were done with that for weeks!” Ian smirked sheepishly in return. “Yeah, you know for when you decide to invite your mother...” That was the final straw for Mickey. “Fuck!”, he burst out suddenly gathering all the attention at the table.

“Mother?”, Lip asked, “I thought your mom was dead?!” Mickey tried to avoid the looks he was getting from the Gallaghers. Thinking about how he was going to avoid the stupid question/answer game they all loved to play. Why did Ian just always have to be so pushy? Couldn’t he just accept his decision for once? He decided it was probably best to leave before he could make a scene. Mickey sighed. “I should go!”, he mumbled standing up from the table and walking towards the living room to the door. “Oh come on, Mickey!”, Ian called out, quickly standing up himself and going after him. 

Mickey had had it with the fucking talkative Gallagher. Ian wanted to talk. He could have it. Mickey turned around when he got to the door. “You know what, Ian? I never pushed you to do anything like that! I always accepted the way you were handling your family! Your parents!”, he yelled at him furiously. Ian stood glued to the spot lifting his hands defensively.

“Mick, all I want is for you to talk to her! To have a family besides me, alright? There is nothing wrong with that, just talk to her!”, Ian tried to sooth him. “Talk? Not everything can be made undone by talking, Ian! You don’t know what happened back then! You wouldn’t talk like that if you had been through it all!”, he shot back, “You know what the last memory of my mom was for me? She was raped and beaten by Terry until she didn’t move anymore! She was lying on the floor bleeding and I thought she was dead. Think talkin’ would have fuckin’ helped? She was fuckin’ dead to me, Ian!” Mickey felt his eyes filling with tears and quickly brushed them away. 

“But that wasn’t even the worst part!”, he said with a calm but painful voice, “The worst part were the weeks that came after, when she was gone and Terry was on some fuckin’ trip out of town and I was left alone with Mandy… nobody gave shit back then! We didn’t have loving or caring siblings that took care of us! My four brothers just managed to leave whenever things got shitty at our house! We were all on our fuckin’ own!” Ian tried to take a step towards Mickey but Mickey just took a step back raising his hand to stop him. 

“You don’t know the shit I had to go through to not starve to death. To protect Mandy. To protect myself!”, he continued, “I forgave my mother a long time ago when I still thought she was dead, but knowing that she was alive all these years, knowing that she left us with that violent asshole… I’m sorry but I can’t forgive her for that… and I certainly can’t talk to her and listen to her about that shit!” Mickey finally opened to door to leave the house unaware that the rest of the Gallaghers had watched the drama. Ian was following him swiftly down the stairs.

“Mick! I’m so...”, Ian said but Mickey quickly interrupted him. “Just leave it, Ian!”, he glared at him, “Just let me cool off, a’ight? Let me be the fuck alone for a while!” Mickey turned around and started walking. Ian watched him walk away until he disappeared into the cool winterly streets of Southside Chicago.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey gets to the point where he wants to meet his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kind words and the kudos! As promised a new chapter! Already busy with a new one :) Hope you're having a good time reading it! As always: Reviews/criticism is appreciated, so don't hold back ;)

Mickey was walking in the cold streets of Chicago. He didn’t even remember where he went he just kept walking, smoking one cigarette after another. His anger had quickly turned into sadness and self-pity. And that however had turned into self-loathing. If there was one thing in the world he hated most it was probably self-pity. Part of it was because he was raised that way. If you wanted to survive on Southside you couldn’t just hold on feeling sorry for yourself all day. You’d be skinned alive. The other part of it was that he felt like self-pity was just fucking pointless. There was nothing to gain from that feeling.

So he just continued wandering around the city until his thoughts had managed to see things without the emotion attached to them. If he locked away all the anger, sadness and frustration he was finally able see what Ian was probably trying to get across to him before: He had another relative. Alive. And presumably caring. 

When he was a child he had always wished for his mother to just turn up again. There had never been a grave or even a tombstone with an epitaph he could go to and visit whenever he missed his mom. She just disappeared. As if she had never been there in the first place. And Terry had done his best to act like she had never been there. They weren’t allowed to be sad, to cry for their mother. They just all had to act like nothing happened or they were beaten the shit out of.

Fucking Terry Milkovich. He had always forced the pride of their last name down their throats and the pride of their heritage, even though Terry didn’t even speak Ukrainian. Nevertheless, everyone on Southside knew not to mess with a Milkovich. But what did being a Milkovich even mean? Mickey chuckled at the thought of this question. The only thing it fucking meant was to run away or do some fucked up shit that made you wind up in prison or dead. At least that’s what all of them ever did. His brothers, most of them in prison or dead. His dad, in prison. Mandy, god knows where she was. His mom, … well he knew now that she was still there. 

He thought of the annoying red-head that was always a little bit too pushy and a little less reserved. This fucking Gallagher would be the death of him one day for sure. He smiled thinking about Ian and decided it was time for him to go home.

 

Ian lay in bed wide awake. It was a little past one and he still couldn’t fall asleep. He thought about the evening and felt a dark feeling of remorse. He knew he had been too meddling. He knew that Mickey’s reaction had probably been accurate compared to what he had been through. He ran a hand over his face wishing he would have just talked to him alone and not in front of his siblings.  
Mickey was hard with admitting to and expressing feelings anyway, pushing him to do something he was clearly struggling with had just been the wrong way. Then again, if Ian hadn’t pushed Mickey in the past, he probably would have never come out or even committed to a relationship. He was like that sometimes. Afraid of any change even though it might make him happy.

Ian sighed long and picked up his phone again to see if Mickey had finally responded to his text messages. Still nothing. He put the phone back on his nightstand and lay down again. He was just about to doze off when he heard the front door. Ian was suddenly wide awake again, but before he could manage to get out of the bedroom and into the hallway he heard the front door closing again.

“Mickey?”, he called to the dark hallway. Confused he turned on the lights in the kitchen and the living room to see that they were empty. When his eyes got comfortable with the light he looked around to see if Mickey had taken something with him. He looked at the counter, where he had emptied his pockets earlier. Ian’s wallet was still there, but the car keys were gone… and the note! The note with Anastasia’s address and phone number. Mickey must have taken it with him. Ian’s heart did a sudden jump. Maybe he went to see her. Maybe he wanted to talk to her. 

Ian ran back to the bedroom picking up his phone again. He tried to call Mickey to see if he answered this time. Straight to voice mail. He sat on the bed holding his head in his hands when he suddenly felt his phone buzzing. Finally a message!

[Mickey] 1:27am  
I’m fine! Don’t worry! Be back by noon gotta deal with sth first.

 

Mickey had driven all night. The navigation system on his phone had led him all the way down the south of Illinois to a small town near Carbondale. It was almost seven when he pulled the car over to the sidewalk. The neighborhood he was in was the complete opposite of Southside Chicago. The streets were clean. The houses looked mostly new or at least renovated. No broken windows or fences. No junk on the lawns. Only expensive cars, fastidious cut grass and fancy clean houses. Mickey felt like he just entered a cheesy Hollywood love flick.

He got out of the car and looked on the note again. Liberty lane 342. He stood right in front of it. A neat little house with a big black SUV in front of the garage. He started wondering if Ian had noted down the right address. He couldn’t imagine his mother living in this neighborhood. How did she get from goddamn Southside Chicago to fucking Pleasantville? 

He got out of the car and slowly approached the house. With every step his heart started beating faster. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? He stopped to take a deep breath. He looked at the mailbox to see what name was on it. Carlton. Not Milkovich. Maybe she remarried? That means if she even lived in that fancy house.

He started walking towards the door again, getting more nervous with each step. In front of the door he straightened his shirt and ran a hand through his hair to look halfway decent, then he rang the door bell. He felt his heart pounding up to his throat as he heard footsteps on the other side. 

The door slowly opened and a skinny man, probably in his late forties stood in front of him. He had dark, half long hair that were well groomed, a slightly crooked nose and thick glasses. The man fit perfectly in the neighborhood, wearing a buttoned up, light brown shirt with a dark brown vest and dark brown pants. Mickey looked up and down at him, pretty sure that he had the wrong address. The man did the same to him, probably thinking the same thing.

“Can I help you?”, the man asked. Mickey was startled by his soft voice. He sounded like a librarian that was unsure, if he really asked a question. Mickey ran a thumb over his lip. The man was clearly getting nervous as he saw the tattooed knuckles and gripped tighter to the door. “Um… my name is Mickey Milkovich and I’m looking for someone by the name Anastasia… I have an address that says that she lives here?”, Mickey responded uncertain. 

The man’s eyes widened quickly as he heard the name. “Y-… you are Mickey?”, he asked with a bewildered expression. “Who’s at the door, hun?”, Mickey heard a familiar voice approaching and suddenly there she was. Her piercing blue eyes looking with surprise at Mickey. She opened her lips as if she wanted to say something but quickly closed them again and turned them into a warm smile. Her eyes filled with tears. “Mickey, miy syn!”, she gasped, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Mickey stood there glued to the spot. He didn’t know how to react or what to say. He had wanted to tell her so many things. Wanted to yell at her and make her feel bad for leaving, but now that she stood in front of him with that warm smile he was so fond of, he couldn’t be mad. He was tired of holding this grudge against her. “Hey… Mama.”, he said carefully. She smiled even wider and in a sudden attempt wrapped her arms around him. He couldn’t quite reciprocate, but it felt like all his anger had gone when he felt his mother’s heart beating on his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW: I don't speak Ukrainian, so I hope I didn't make any huge mistakes in grammar or vocabulary.  
> You probably guessed it but here are the translations:  
> Maty = Mother  
> Miy syn = My son
> 
> Thanks again for reading :)


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey meets his mother and her family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very emotional this one! A lot of ups and downs! I hope you enjoy it :)

Mickey sat at the kitchen table in his mother’s home and watched as his mom hurried around the kitchen to make him breakfast while her husband Jerry sat on the other end of the table eying him warily. “You like eggs and bacon?”, she asked with her usual warm smile, talking in English so her husband could understand them, “You loved eggs and bacon as a child! And orange juice? Or do you drink coffee nowadays?” Mickey felt uncomfortable about all this but he just nodded. “Whatever you have is fine.”, he said concisely. She smiled at him again and began to cook.

“So… tell me about you!”, she requested while she stirred eggs in a pan. Mickey watched her narrowly. The way she moved. The way she gesticulated, talked, smiled. He suddenly felt like he was six again sitting in the shitty Milkovich house watching his mother making breakfast. He shuddered at the memory.

“Um… well, what do you wanna know?”, he asked in return. She looked over at him quickly before returning to the eggs. “Well, you know… What do you do for a living? Are you in a relationship or are you married? Do you have kids? These things.”, she chatted excitedly. Mickey took a deep breath. All of these questions would take a while to explain, but he decided to make it short for now.

“I’m part owner and trainer in a martial arts center. I’m in a long-term relationship… well actually we’re engaged. I used to be married, but I’m divorced now and I have a ten year old son.”, he sputtered before taking another breath. His mother stared at him in surprise. Then she started laughing at that response.

“Wait, wait, hold up!”, she giggled, “So you’re getting married again? Who is the lucky bride? Do you have a picture? And from your son, too?” She scooped eggs and bacon on a plate, placed it in front of him together with a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. Then she sat next to him and looked at him expectantly. Feeling a lump in his throat for what was about to come next, he hesitantly pulled out his smartphone and opened a recent picture of Ian, him and Yevgeny.

She eyed the picture with a happy expression on her face that soon turned into a confused look. She looked up at him as if she was worried. He sighed. “Yup, not a bride...”, he tried to answer her question. She looked back at the picture her lips doing that warm smile again. “I see… He is a really nice young man!”, she said and Mickey actually had the feeling that she meant what she said, “He cares a lot for you.” Mickey swallowed. He did. He reminded himself that he would definitely have to apologize to Ian when he got home.  
“Yeah he is… he is great!”, he responded. She gave him back his phone. “So, I assume you were married to a woman before if you have a son?”, she continued her interrogation. Mickey chuckled and nodded again, lifting a hand to take a sip of the coffee in front of him. “And it didn’t work out because you are gay?”, she looked at him with these big blue eyes and the memory of his first wedding almost made him choke.

“Yeah… something like that!”, he sighed, dropping his gaze to the floor so she couldn’t see how uncomfortable he was. She nodded carefully and took his hand into hers, tenderly stroking his tattooed fingers. “Must have been hard in that neighborhood...”, she commented softly a big tear rolling down her cheek. “I’m so so sorry...”, she whispered, still stroking, “I’m so sorry I was too weak to protect you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there!”

Mickey rolled his eyes. He could barely stand this uncomfortable conversation. He was not ready to forgive her yet but there was still a question burning in him. And it had been burning since she had appeared at his apartment the other day.

“Why’d you leave then?”, he asked with a calm voice, “Why’d you fuckin’ leave us then?” She looked up at him shyly and quickly wiped the tears from her face. “Terry… he was a very violent man.”, she whispered, the pain heavy in her voice, “He threatened to kill us if I left with Mandy and you… I- I had no choice!” She looked down at his hand in hers and sobbed. “He could have killed us a billion times already by accident.”, Mickey replied cold. He pulled his hand away pressed his palms to his eyes to stop the tears from coming. 

“He caught Ian and me on the couch when I was 18.”, Mickey continued bluntly, “He beat the shit out of us and pistol whipped me. Then he called a hooker to fuck the gay out of me.” He chuckled darkly, “After that he forced me to marry her because she was knocked up and the best part is that it might not even be my kid!” Anastasia looked at him shocked, slowly shaking her head as if she did not want to belief what Mickey had just told her. Mickey continued to stare at her with a stern look. He knew she wasn’t to blame for the situation but he had the urge to make her understand the effects of her leaving.

“I’m really sorry this happened to you!”, she sobbed, “I never wanted you to suffer like this! I never intended for this to happen!” Mickey snorted, rubbing a hand across his face. “Well it did happen!”, he emphasized, “but what can you do?! That’s life, right? Too bad it didn’t go as expected!” He took a deep breath and faced her again trying to keep his calm. “I know you can’t make things undone now and I’m not expecting you to fuckin’ make it up to me or anything...” 

She sighed. Tears still running down her cheeks. Mickey gazed at her, suddenly feeling bad for his outburst. She was still his mother and even after 20 years of no contact, she seemed like she really wanted to have him in her life. “Why did you come here, Mickey?”, Jerry asked abruptly, speaking for the first time since Mickey had entered the house. Mickey looked at him in confusion. “Do you want to make your mother feel bad about her actions? Well, she already does, as you can see. Shouldn’t you use the time to tell her how you feel about her now?” Mickey stared at the man, wondering what drugs he had taken to make such a suggestion. Then he remembered that he wasn’t on fucking Southside right now and these kind of suggestions probably seemed normal for regular people.

“The fuck? Are you a fuckin’ shrink or somethin’?”, he asked bluntly. Jerry coughed slightly at the amount of curse words in one sentence but he put on a friendly smile. “Indeed, Mickey I am a psychiatrist. Hence, I know how much of a big step for you it was to come here. But I want to point out to you that your mother has taken a big step, too, in approaching you in the first place.” Jerry seemed to be the personified calmness when he spoke, which made Mickey even more uncomfortable. He felt watched and judged in everything he did or said, even more now than before.

He looked back at his mother, who had stopped crying and stared at him again with her big blue eyes. “Yeah, yeah right.”, he responded to Jerry with an annoyed voice, “Enough of the fuckin’ shrink talk!” Jerry chuckled amused. “Your son is a delight, my dear.”, he said to his wife and she gave him a shy smile. Mickey didn’t know if Jerry was just being sarcastic or if he really meant what he said. Then again, he didn’t really care either way.

Mickey faced his mother again. “Alright, so what’s the deal? What took you so long to come looking for me?”, he asked bluntly. Anastasia sighed again “Fear.”, she said looking down on her hands in her lap. “I was afraid you’d repudiate me and I was afraid of Terry...” She started sobbing again. “I-I heard you were in prison a couple of years back and I wanted to go visit you, but I didn’t know how… When I finally made my decision you had broken out and I thought I had lost you forever.” She reached out for his hand again and he let her take it in her own. “But then your charges were dropped and you came back!” Her lips curled into a little smile. “Well, that explains 18 years of your absence… what about the rest?”, he asked briskly, “I’ve been out 3 years!”

She looked down on their hands again. “I tried to track down Mandy, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.”, she sighed, “So, I went to the old Milkovich house to see if there was any trace of you or your sister but there was nothing. Nobody had seen you or Mandy in years… not even your brothers.” Mickey’s eyebrows shot up. “My brothers?”, he repeated. “Yes, I saw Iggy and Jamie around the house, but they weren’t much of a help.”, she responded smirking. Mickey chuckled. Of course they weren’t. They had probably been high on something, thinking Anastasia had been a hallucination. He was about to say something when he suddenly heard a voice behind him. 

“Mama, who is this?”, a children’s voice asked. Mickey turned around startled and saw a young boy with dark long hair, probably a little older than Yevgeny, standing in the door to the kitchen staring at him. Anastasia smiled at him and waved him over. “That’s your half-brother Mikailo, Oleksiy.”, she introduced him. The boy looked up and down at him, just like his father before. Just when Mickey thought that this couldn’t get any weirder a little girl appeared behind Oleksiy. Her big blue eyes watched him warily.

“These are our children, Mickey.”, Anastasia said with a proud smirk, “ Oleksiy and Darya.” Mickey stood up and didn’t really know what to do, so he just waved at them. Darya started to giggle. Her smile reminded him a lot of Mandy’s when they were children. He smiled at them both, while his gaze wandered by chance to the clock behind them. 

It was almost 9. He had told Ian he would be back by noon. “Ah… I gotta go.” He said quickly, gathering his jacket from the chair. His mother looked disappointed. “Oh… okay.”, she replied, “Will… you stay in touch?” She smiled at him shyly and he felt a twitch in his chest. He went over to the refrigerator and wrote down his phone number an a little note pad. “We will.”, he said concisely. They said their goodbyes, his mother giving him a long, tight hug, before he hit the road again.

On his way home, all sorts of emotions went through him. A part of him was still angry and hurt. But another part of him had come to peace with the situation. Ian had been right. She was still his mother. And if she wanted to be his mother, he would try and let her.


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey returns home to Ian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the positive feedback and kudos! Keep it coming :) Hope I can continue to not suck. Enjoy the new chapter!
> 
> Please note there are mentions of child abuse in this chapter.

Ian was sitting at the kitchen table in the Gallagher house with Fiona. It was almost 9 on a lazy Sunday. He had barely slept the night so he had decided to go back to the Gallagher house for breakfast, since there was still a little bit of time to kill before noon. Fiona was always more than happy when he showed up. Nowadays, they barely saw each other more than once a week and it was nice to catch up, especially when no one else was awake yet. 

“So, you think he went to see his mum?”, Fiona asked him while pouring more coffee in Ian’s cup. He shrugged. “Not sure”, he answered, “He was pretty mad yesterday.” Fiona sat down next to him. “Well, can you blame him?”, she said carefully smiling, “I’m just sayin’ if Monica showed up out of the blue when I thought she had been dead for 20 years, I don’t think I had acted any way different than Mickey did.” Ian smiled staring down at his coffee. “Well, luckily we all saw her get buried, right?”, he replied with a laugh. “Twice!”, Fiona reciprocated his laugh.

“I just thought it would be nice for him to have a bit more of a family, you know? I mean besides me and Yev.”, Ian continued with a sigh, “He hasn’t even really talked to anyone of his brothers since he came back, let alone Mandy who is still MIA for all I know.” Fiona nodded. “Yeah I know what you mean… but that family is fucked up! Did you hear what he said yesterday? Nobody took care of them when she had left. I mean how old were they back then?” Ian shrugged again. “I think he was six or seven maybe, but I don’t know. He has never talked to me about her before.”, he replied pensively. “How great it is that child protective services do such an outstanding job!”, she remarked sarcastically and Ian laughed again.

“I just hope he’s alright!”, he said suddenly remorseful. Fiona laid a hand on his arm and squeezed it lightly. “He’s alright, you’ll see!”, she emphasized, “He always gets back on his feet, you of all people should know that!” Ian nodded, smiling slightly. “I still feel like a piece of shit!”, he replied looking up at her. Fiona smirked. “Don’t we all?!”, she laughed and he couldn’t help but return it, “Now stop worrying! Mickey is fine! Couples fight sometimes. It’s the most normal thing in the world! I’m just happy that you don’t use your fists anymore when you have a disagreement!”

Ian chuckled at that. There had been a time, when a fight like yesterday had quickly escalated into a brawl. But that wasn’t them anymore. They were adults and communicated more, now. Although Mickey was not always the best communicator. He wondered if it would be different with his mother. Ian looked at the clock again. It was half past nine. Still a couple of hours to go. He helped Fiona make breakfast when the first Gallaghers stumbled down the stairs sleepily.

 

When Mickey pulled up at their usual parking spot, he was deadbeat. The lack of sleep and all this emotional bullshit were finally taking their toll. He went up the stairs to their apartment and opened the front door, looking forward to a hot shower and sleep. Ian was cleaning in the kitchen, when Mickey entered. “Hey.”, he mumbled laying his keys on the counter. Ian quickly dried his hands and went over to the counter pulling him in for a long tender kiss. Mickey smiled at him tiredly when they pulled apart. “Dealt with your stuff?”, Ian asked carefully. Mickey sighed but nodded. “Yeah… uh, I’m going to hit the shower.”, he replied and made his way to the bathroom, “Don’t mind if ya wanna join...”, he called from the door. Ian laughed, and quickly followed him. 

 

The water was already running cold when they both climaxed in the shower, but Mickey wouldn’t want to have it any other way. It’s what they had always been best at. Now that they had their own apartment they didn’t even have to hurry anymore. No one was going to interrupt them by bursting into their room. They could just enjoy each other as long as it lasted. And Mickey once again especially enjoyed having the red head all to himself.

They quickly made their way to the bed after showering for real this time. Mickey hadn’t had any sleep that night and Ian was beginning to feel tired as well, so they lay down on their bed, tightly entangled in one another. Mickey was grateful for the silence and that Ian hadn’t asked him anything about where he had been, yet. His thoughts were beginning to blur and he fell asleep with his head on Ian’s chest.

 

When he woke up it was already dark outside and Ian was sitting up next to him, reading something on his phone. He quickly put his phone on the nightstand as he realized that he was awake. “Hey you!”, he whispered gently, “Sleep okay?” Mickey yawned loudly but nodded. “You want something to eat? We could order pizza.”, Ian suggested. “Sure.”, Mickey agreed. Ian looked at him as if he wanted to say something. “What?”, Mickey asked, rubbing his eyes. Ian bit his tongue. “Nothin’.”, he said quickly, “What do you want?” Mickey shrugged. “The usual.”, he said and stood up from the bed, making his way to the bathroom. When he returned, Ian was still looking at him like that. “Just ask already!”, Mickey sighed.

Ian face lit up, but he quickly managed to sound not too excited by the sudden invitation to speak. “So, did you go see your mother?”, he asked curiously. Mickey lay down next to him again, putting an arm over his forehead. “Uh-huh.”, he replied concisely. “How was it?”, Ian continued the interrogation. Mickey shrugged. “I don’t know… fine I guess.”, he answered still not giving away too much information. Ian sighed. “Spill the beans already!” he demanded. Mickey pulled a grimace and sighed. “I guess it could have been worse!”, he said, watching Ian’s reaction and started to laugh when the red head looked at him irritated. Ian threw a pillow at him and started to giggle himself. “Alright, alright.”, Mickey said still laughing and started telling Ian about the meeting with Anastasia.

When he finished Ian stared at him frowning. “Well, at least she doesn’t give a shit about you being gay… never thought there are Milkoviches out there who are not homophobic.” Mickey chuckled. “Yeah, well technically she’s not a Milkovich anymore.”, he replied and Ian’s eyebrows shot up, “She remarried remember? Her last name is Carlton now.” Ian nodded. “Do you wanna see her again?”, he asked carefully. Mickey shrugged. “I don’t know… it’s just all so fuckin’ weird.”, he said running a hand over his face, “I mean here I am on fuckin’ South Side, in and out of prison, hustling my ass off and yet she and her perfect little family lived just five hours away in fuckin’ Disney town… it’s almost like she replaced us for a better life.” Ian turned his head slightly so he could face Mickey. 

“Wait… there’s something I don’t understand.”, he began, “Why did she go looking for you and Mandy but not your other brothers? I mean isn’t she their mother, too?” Mickey faced Ian, his piercing blue eyes processing the question. “I thought you knew…”, he answered thoughtfully, “My brothers have a another mother. I never saw her and Terry told them the same thing, he told Mandy and me about our mom… who knows what happened to her.” Ian sat up, his gaze wandering around the bedroom before he looked back at Mickey. “How come I didn’t know this?”, he asked offended, “You know everything about me and my family but I know nothing about yours. I know nothing about you!” Mickey frowned. “Jesus, stop being so fuckin’ dramatic! It’s not like I lied to you or anythin’! Besides, you never asked!”, he snorted. Ian looked like he was about to jump down his throat. “We’re gettin’ married, Mickey! We are supposed to know these things about each other.” Mickey let out an irritated sigh and waved a hand at him. “What ya wanna know then?”, he asked raising his eyebrows. 

Ian thought for second and sat cross-legged scratching his chin. “What exactly happened after your mom left?”, he asked more calm than before. Mickey rolled his eyes, his gaze wandering to the window next to their bed. “We tried to survive… “, he said scarcely. “How?”, Ian continued to pester him. Mickey sighed again and sat up, letting his arms fall over his knees. “First, we ate what was left at our house. When that dwindled, I walked around the neighborhood tryin’ to steal some food from the shitty stores. Sometimes I couldn’t get anythin’ and I was left lookin’ through garbage cans until I found something halfway edible.”, Mickey’s face turned dark as if he didn’t want to remember that time, “sometimes someone took pity on us but that was the exception… you know how it is here: Every man for himself.” Ian was speechless. He really didn’t expect that. “Jesus, Mick!”, he gasped trying to touch his arm but Mickey pulled away. “Doesn’t matter now anyway.”, he replied with a wave of his hand. 

“How long did you do that? I mean someone had to notice two abandoned kids?”, Ian asked concerned. Mickey snorted. “Yeah, Mendel the fuckin’ creep noticed.” Ian looked at him putting the pieces together. “Mr Mendel? The old gardener who got popped for those pictures?”, he asked again. Mickey nodded. “Offered me a hundred bucks if I let him take photos of me.”, Mickey answered rubbing his forehead at the memory. “Did you do it?”, Ian held his breath hoping that the answer wasn’t yes. Mickey chuckled. “Course not! I punched his dick and stole his wallet. I was a kid, not stupid!”, he downplayed it, “CPS came after eight weeks and brought us to our aunt. ‘t was fine then.”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ...”, Ian mumbled, lost in thought. “You wanted to know… “, Mickey replied, “Now you know… can we order some fuckin’ Pizza now? I’m starvin’!” Ian faced him, looking like he just made the weirdest suggestion, but nodded absentmindedly. Just when he thought nothing could shock him anymore, Mickey surprised him anew.


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey's mother is coming to visit with her family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not uploading yesterday but that chapter took me quite a while, since it's pretty long compared to my other chapters. Let me know what you think! Hope you enjoy it :)   
> Also I think I'm going to wrap up the Maty chapters soon and start a new series. Maybe wedding time or how Mickey returned... don't know yet but it's going to be awesome!  
> Thank you so much for reading :)

Mickey lay in bed watching his fiancé bobbing his head up and down on him. Although the feeling was amazing, as always, there was just too much going on his head. When he finally managed to come, Ian sat up gazing at him with a questioning look. “What took you so long today?”, he asked, rubbing his red lips. Mickey shrugged. “Just got stuff in my head...”, he replied. Ian sighed. “You’re gonna tell me you’re nervous because your mother is coming with her family today?”, he smirked teasingly. Mickey flipped him off. “Ey, fuck you! You try gettin’ your dick sucked, when your mom’s in your head!”, he responded with a chuckle. “Uh, no thanks!”, Ian replied and leaned forward to kiss Mickey gently. Mickey reciprocated the kiss grabbing Ian by the back of his head with one hand and pulling up his boxers with the other.

Just as Ian tried to start something anew, a very awake Yevgeny burst into their room. It was an unspoken rule between Ian and Mickey to wear boxers to sleep when Yevgeny spent the night. Kids were unpredictable like that. You never knew when they decided you had had enough privacy. 

“Morniiiin’!”, Yevgeny greeted the two men in front of him with a shit eating grin, but stopped his move when he saw them kissing. “Eew, gross!”, he gagged. Ian chuckled, clearly not annoyed by the kid’s interruption. He stood up and gave Yevgeny a kiss on the head as he passed him to go to the bathroom. “Ey, what did I tell you about bursting in here?”, Mickey reproved his son. Yevgeny grinned even wider, laying a finger on his cheek and looking up at the ceiling as if he was thinking very hard. “I should knock before I burst in?”, he answered his dad. Mickey nodded. “That’s right! And what did you do?”, he asked again. Yevgeny let his arm fall back to his side. “I didn’t knock?”, he answered back, “But I really wouldn’t be bursting in, if I knocked first, right?” Yevgeny’s grin turned into a laugh. He loved to tease his dad. “Yeah, well ain’t you a little smartass.”, Mickey replied, making his way to the bathroom himself, when Ian got out. 

“Cereal or French toast?”, Ian asked while getting dressed. “Cereal!”, Yevgeny replied excitedly. “French toast!”, Mickey called from the bathroom. Ian laughed walking over to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for them. 

When Mickey appeared in the kitchen, Yevgeny was already sitting at the table munching his cereal smiling up at Mickey as he sat next to him and Ian. “What are we gonna do today?”, Yevgeny asked curiously. Mickey took a big gulp of his coffee before he replied: “I told you! Your grandma is coming with her family today .” Yevgeny dangled with his legs listening to his dad. “Aren’t we her family, if she is my grandmother?”, he continued to pester. “Yes, we are her family, too, but she has a new husband and two more kids now.”, Mickey answered calmly. “So… does that mean I’m meetin’ my aunt and uncle, too?” Mickey nodded. “I guess.”, he responded shoving another piece of French toast in his mouth. “So cool!”, Yevgeny smiled, “How old are they?” Mickey shrugged. “Don’t know… about your age.” Yevgeny’s eyes widened. “So cool!”, he repeated. Ian smiled at the kid with a lot of love in his eyes. Mickey knew that he was as much of a father to Yevgeny as he was. Maybe even more, since the fatherly feelings came more natural to him than to Mickey. 

He stood up from the table and, as usual, headed to the counter fetching his cigarettes and a lighter to go for a smoke on the balcony. This was going to be a long day full of getting to know each other bullshit, but it had to be done. For Yevgeny to have a grandmother. For Mickey to have a mother. And for Ian, so he could finally act like the perfect son in law. Mickey looked at his little family sitting at the kitchen table and couldn’t help but smile. 

 

The door bell rang in the early afternoon and Mickey was more than nervous now. The last couple of weeks he had texted back and forth with his mom, even calling her once, when she had finally insisted on meeting her grandson and her future son in law. Mickey had been uncomfortable with the idea of inviting them at first, but he assumed it was time to take the next step and Ian, of course, had been more than encouraging in taking it. So they picked a weekend, when Yevgeny would stay at their place.

Yevgeny was already jumping to the door and opened it before Mickey could get there. The little perfect family was smiling at him, when he entered the little hallway. “Hey, you made it.”, he said scarcely as he made his way to hug his mother, shake hands with Jerry and waving again at his two half-siblings. Yevgeny immediately grabbed on to his arm as it was free and smiled shyly at them. “Um, this is Yevgeny, my son.”, Mickey introduced him. Yevgeny grinned sheepishly and greeted everyone with a handshake, not letting go of his dad’s arm. “Are you my grandmother?”, he asked Anastasia, who quickly put on her warm smile and nodded. “Yes, you can call me that.”, she said friendly. Mickey looked around to find Ian who had just appeared in the hallway as well. “This is my… this is Ian.” Ian smiled at them and shook his head at Mickey. “I’m Ian, Mickey’s fiancé.”, he introduced himself before they entered the little apartment.

“I hope your drive was okay.”, Ian started the small talk as the group quickly scattered around the apartment. The kids were already running around looking at stuff and Mickey was on their heels so they couldn’t destroy anything. Anastasia smiled at him. “It was fine, thank you!”, she said looking around the living room, setting her eyes on the wall across the kitchen table, where Ian had hung up multiple photos, he had shot here and there with his old Polaroid camera. Mickey had commented on the wall as ‘super gay’ when they moved in, but Ian loved having it there. Anastasia looked interestedly at every single photo still having that warm, motherly smile on her face. 

The wall consisted mostly of pictures of Mickey alone, doing something, because Ian rarely got him to pose for a picture, pictures of Ian’s family and Yevgeny and some half-hearted selfies of him and Mickey. “Is that your family?”, she asked Ian, pointing at a picture of Mickey, him and his siblings from his last birthday. “Yeah, I have two sisters and three brothers.”, he replied, returning her smile. She nodded. “You have a big family.”, she remarked, “Do you see them often?” Ian nodded. “Whenever I can.”, he said looking at the picture fondly. “Your parents?”, she asked carefully. Ian shook his head slowly. “Not in the picture.”, he answered concisely but with a smirk on his face, “The photo was taken the night Mickey proposed to me, on my birthday last year.”, Ian tried to change the subject. Anastasia’s eyes widened. “So he proposed to you.”, she said looking at Mickey fondly in the picture, “Now that you say it, he looks kinda nervous here.”, she laughed.

She continued looking at the pictures and stopped at a picture of Mickey in his boxershorts and MMA gloves on. He had a deep cut right above the eye and a dark bruise on his chin. Ian remembered that night very well. Mickey had won his first fight and Ian hadn’t been able to watch half of it back then. MMA fights were bloody and brutal, but so was Mickey. “Are you fine with this fighting thing?”, she asked, nodding in the direction of the picture. Ian shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”, he answered, “It’s what makes him happy. Besides he is really good at it.” Anastasia laughed. “I’m believing that! He has always been hell-bent to lock horns with anybody who was willing.”, she chuckled, “Doesn’t surprise me that he chose a job like that.” Ian returned the chuckle. “Yeah, it’s almost like the perfect job for him.”

She looked at him, examining him thoroughly with her piercing blue eyes. “And what do you do for a living?”, she asked. “I’m an EMT.”, he responded proudly. “Wow, saving lives everyday!”, she said admiringly. Ian just shrugged again and chuckled a bit, hoping his ears wouldn’t turn red. “I’ll try.”, he replied shyly. “Well then you can stitch your man up after a fight.”, she laughed again.

“How does that work with your bipolar disorder?”, Jerry asked all of a sudden, appearing behind them. Ian was speechless by the sudden exposure and looked over to Mickey, wondering if he had told him about his disease. Usually Mickey left it up to him, if he wanted to tell someone. Jerry must have realized the confusion his question had caused. “I’m sorry, I saw the meds in the kitchen and I usually prescribe these kind of pills to my bipolar patients.”, he quickly explained, “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Ian suddenly remembered that Mickey had told him that Jerry was a ‘fucking shrink’ as he put it and Ian had to smile. “Ah, no it’s fine”, he replied politely, “I’m having an agreement with my boss… as long as I’m not manic I can work.” Jerry nodded friendly and continued to look around the apartment. “I’m going to make some coffee.”, Ian excused himself from the awkward scene.

“Is that an electric guitar?”, Oleksiy screamed and ran to the corner of the living room where Mickey’s old guitar stood. Mickey was quickly following him so he couldn’t break it. “Do you play?”, Oleksiy asked Mickey excitedly. “Sometimes…”, he said warily eying the kid, “Do you?” Oleksiy nodded quickly. “Can I try it?”, he asked almost begging. Mickey sighed picking up the old guitar and putting the guitar strap over Oleksiy’s head. Yevgeny, who had still clung to his arm sat down on the couch next to them and watched as Oleksiy started to play a few chords. Mickey sat down, hooking up the amplifier to the guitar and set it up, so it wouldn’t be too loud. He played a song, Mickey had definitely heard before somewhere. “You’re damn good.”, Mickey pointed out to him and the boy smiled with pride. 

“Is Ian your boyfriend?”, Darya asked all of a sudden, appearing next to him. Mickey looked at her in surprise. “Ah, yeah… fiancé actually.”, he answered. Darya gazed at him in abstraction. “Don’t you want a girlfriend?”, she continued her questioning. Mickey’s eyebrows shot up. Clearly no one had talked to her about that stuff yet. 

“No, I don’t.”, he sighed, hoping there would be no follow-up questions. “That’s pretty gay!”, Oleksiy noted grinning. Mickey chuckled. “Yeah, well that’s the fuckin’ point!”, he replied. “Do you kiss Ian a lot?”, Darya asked again. Mickey looked around in search of help. “I won’t fuckin’ answer that!”, he said, when he saw the adults standing at the other end of the room, in front of the photo wall.

“How do gays even have sex?”, Oleksiy wondered and Mickey’s ears turned red in shame. “What is sex, dad?”, Yevgeny asked all of a sudden. Mickey would have greatly appreciated it, if someone had just shot him right there. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ”, he mumbled, running a hand over his face. “You curse a lot!”, Darya commented looking up at him with her big blue eyes, “Mama won’t let us have dessert if we curse too much.” Mickey frowned at her. He pressed his palms to his face to gather the last bit of patience in him. “Hey, you guys wanna watch some TV?”, he asked, picking up the remote and turning the TV on. Three pair of eyes watching his every move. “Great!”, he said, threw the remote on the coffee table and fled the scene.

Ian was already waiting for him by the counter making coffee for the adults. “Everything alright?”, he asked. “Shoot me now!”, Mickey grunted, while getting some clean cups and placed them on the table. Ian chuckled and followed him quickly with the freshly brewed coffee. Anastasia and Jerry soon joined them as they sat down at the kitchen table to drink coffee and talk.

 

“So, when will you get married? Is there a date, yet?”, Anastasia asked, taking a sip of her coffee. “September 12th.”, Ian replied quickly, “There’s still a little planning to do.” Mickey rolled his eyes at that. Of course, he wanted to get married to Ian, but he would have appreciated it if they had just planned a trip to Vegas instead of getting married in fucking Chicago in front of a billion people. Then again, Ian wouldn’t be Ian if he didn’t make a big thing out of it. 

“We’ll send out invitations soon.”, Ian continued, looking at Mickey for support. “Yeah, right.”, Mickey responded. Anastasia smiled happily at them and Ian was suddenly aware that they expected to be invited, so he looked at Mickey, who just came to the conclusion himself. “Um, I mean, of course you’re invited.”, Mickey stammered awkwardly and Anastasia’s smile turned even wider. “Where will you celebrate?”, she asked again. “We’re lookin’ at places but I think we’ll go with the Alibi Room, since it belongs to friends of ours.”, Ian said enthusiastically, “After the official ceremony in town hall, of course.” Anastasia seemed to remember the bar. “Stan’s Alibi? Is that place still open?”, she wondered, taking another sip of coffee. “Yeah, Kev took over the bar when Stan passed away.”, Ian responded again. By the look of Anastasia’s face she seemed to have a lot of memories concerning the Alibi Room. Jerry looked at her in question, when she became silent. 

“It’s where I met Terry.”, she tried to answer his questioning look, “back, when nobody cared to check ID’s in a bar.” She chuckled at the memory, but her face soon turned dark. Mickey wasn’t surprised that his parents had met at the Alibi. The only bar in Chicago, where people still tolerated his dad was probably the Alibi, although Mickey wasn’t so sure about it anymore, since Kevin was pretty loyal to him and Ian. “How old were you?”, Ian asked, suddenly interested in the story. Ian was pretty sure that she couldn’t have been older than 18 back then. She still looked pretty young, considering the fact that she had four kids. Anastasia leaned her head to the side thinking. “About fourteen I think… I was fifteen, when I had Mickey.”, she replied thoughtfully, her smile returning, when she looked at her son, “We got married quickly before I gave birth, since our parents had been very religious.” Mickey’s eyebrows shot up. He couldn’t imagine Terry’s parents being religious at all, but then again he had never met them, at least not consciously. “Religious?”, he repeated. Anastasia nodded. “Russian orthodox.”, she said scarcely and suddenly Mickey put the pieces together, why Terry had been so in favor of Yevgeny getting baptized. His face must’ve given away his sudden epiphany because his mother started to look at him worriedly. “Everything alright?”, she asked him concerned. “Yeah, uh… Yev is baptized Russian orthodox.”, he replied looking over at the kids still watching TV. “He is?”, Anastasia asked surprised. Mickey nodded. “Yes, his mother is Russian, but Terry…”, Mickey looked around sharing a meaningful look with Ian, not knowing how to continue the sentence, “Um, ...” His mother gazed at him, waiting for him to continue. 

“Mickey came out on Yevgeny’s baptism”, Ian answered for him and before the question could be asked: “in front of Terry.” Both Anastasia and Jerry looked at Mickey with a mix of astonishment and worry. Mickey shifted uncomfortably on his chair, having all eyes drawn to him again. “Yeah, … just to satisfy your crazy ass!”, Mickey tried to justify himself and Ian laughed. 

“You were there, too?”, Anastasia asked surprised. Ian nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. “Yeah, somebody had to safe him from being beaten to death.”, he chuckled and Mickey looked at him offended. “Hey, I would have managed that shit just fine without you!”, he replied, which caused Ian to roll his eyes. “If you say so,… “, he responded and chuckled again, “but you would still be in the closet if I hadn’t been there.” Mickey smiled at him and felt a lot of love for the red-head.

Anastasia and Jerry were still shocked from the sudden revelation. “Terry tried to beat you to death for coming out?”, she asked, the horror spread all over her face. Mickey shrugged, downplaying it again. “Does that surprise you?”, he asked in return. She gazed at him, the horror turning into remorse. Jerry patted her arm, so she wouldn’t start crying. “He’s such a monster...”, she whispered, looking down at her cup and before she could start apologizing again for not being there, Mickey reached out to grab her hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine now”, he said, hoping this would calm her down, “He has been in prison for the past couple of years. I doubt, he’ll get out soon. If he ever does.” She nodded looking up at him with a forced smile on her face. 

 

A little later Mickey stood outside on the balcony enjoying a smoke, when his mother suddenly appeared. The kids had started playing X-Box and Jerry had started to talk to Ian about how he managed his disease. Anastasia smiled at Mickey when she entered the balcony. “Have one for me?”, she asked in Ukrainian. Mickey’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You smoke?”, he asked opening his pack of cigarettes and giving her one. “From time to time.”, she replied, taking the cigarette and letting it lit by Mickey. “I honestly didn’t expect you to still speak our mother tongue that good.”, she remarked, taking a deep drag. “Yeah, a couple of guys in the joint were Ukrainian, so I was able to refresh my memory.”, he smirked. The both fell silent for a while, watching their families inside. “Ian is such a wonderful young man.”, she said smiling at him again, “I am really happy for you that you found him. You are really lucky!” Mickey nodded, returning her smile. “Yeah… I am.”, he said blushingly. “And Yevgeny is so sweet! I’d love to take him to our place for a weekend soon.”, she continued her praise song, “I think he gets along really well with Oli and Darya.” Mickey nodded again, taking a long drag from his cigarette and breathing out through his nostrils. “Yeah, we’ll figure that out with his mom.”, he replied, stomping out his cigarette and throwing it off the balcony. Anastasia did the same thing and pulled him into tight hug afterwards. “Thank you!”, she whispered in his shoulder, “Thank you for allowing me to be here and getting to know you!” Mickey returned the hug but didn’t know how to respond to that.

The afternoon went by quickly and soon they had to say their goodbyes, so that the Carlton family could get home before midnight. After they had gotten Yevgeny to sleep on the couch, they both fell into bed exhausted. Ian pulled Mickey close as soon as he had turned around on his side, pressing a soft kiss on his shoulder blades. “You alright?”, he asked carefully. “Fine.”, Mickey grunted. Ian was already falling asleep, when he felt Mickey turning around to face him, stroking his cheek with his tattooed hand. “I love you, you know that?”, he whispered. Ian opened his eyes again to smile at Mickey. “Love you, too.”, he replied and pulled Mickey closer, so he could kiss him. After that Mickey nuzzled into his neck and they quickly fell asleep.


	7. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey gets a call from Lip, that Mandy's at the Gallagher house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so thanks to @maryellen590 I finally thought of a way to implement Mandy in this work and tell a bit about her story before moving on. Hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing :) Thanks again for reading, commenting and kudos-ing! I appreciate it very much :)

“Fuck!”, Mickey heard Ian yell from the bathroom and it took him only a second to jump up from the couch to see what was going on. He met Ian in the hallway, Ian holding his wet phone in his hands. “My fuckin’ phone.”, Ian grunted. “What? Dropped your phone in the toilet again?”, Mickey asked chuckling. Ian sighed throwing the phone on the counter. “Fuckin’ useless piece of shit!”, he yelled after his phone. “Maybe you should go look for one that is waterproof.”, Mickey suggested still smirking because the amount of phones Ian had dropped somewhere were ridiculous. Ian gave him a look as if he wanted to go for his jugular. Mickey held up his hands in defense. “Alright, tough guy, I’m not saying anything!”, he said but couldn’t quite stop grinning. 

Ian sighed, rubbing his eyes. “How am I going to survive night shift without my phone?!”, he complained. Mickey sat down on the couch again and flipped through the channels of their TV. “Maybe try and work for once.”, he said, feeling the daggers Ian stared in the back of his head. He turned his head slightly to see Ian walking towards him and he quickly dug away when he tried to put him in a headlock. It wasn’t anything too serious though, since Ian had already started to giggle when Mickey pulled him down on the couch and they started to wrestle jokingly. 

When Ian came up for air, still laughing, he ran a hand over his head. “Fuck, now I gotta do my hair again. Thanks a lot asshole.”, he said smiling at Mickey and kissing him quickly, before moving to the bathroom again. “Your fault for being a constant pain in my ass.”, Mickey chuckled. “Literally!”, Ian called from the bathroom and Mickey laughed again, focusing his attention back on the TV.

A little later Ian appeared again, quickly grabbing his coat and a backpack. “See ya later!”, he said, kissing Mickey on the cheek and walking towards the front door. “Yeah, don’t wake me! Gotta get up early tomorrow!”, he shouted after Ian, who was already out the door. 

Mickey sank deeper into the couch cushions and finally found something on TV that was reasonably interesting. It was going to be a boring evening, since Ian worked all night and would only return a couple of hours before he had to get ready for work again. Soon, he dozed off, while watching some boring TV show.

He awoke a couple of hours later because his phone was buzzing constantly. He grabbed the device sleepily, looking who would call him at 11 pm on a work night. Lip. Lip usually never called Mickey. Then he remembered that Ian’s phone was broken and Lip probably had tried to reach Ian instead of him. He took the call and held the phone to his ear. “What?”, he grunted. “Mickey?”, Lip asked. “Who do you think?”, Mickey replied grumpily. “We have a situation here.”, Lip ignored Mickey’s mood. “Ian’s at work and he dropped his phone again in the toilet.”, Mickey quickly responded, “But you can call the station, if it’s an emergency.” He rubbed his eyes while waiting for Lip to respond. “Actually, I wanted to reach you.” Mickey was suddenly suspicious. “Well, then what’s the occasion?”, he asked a little more awake. “Your sister appeared on our doorstep an hour ago.”, he said. Mickey was fully awake now, sitting up in a hurry. “My sister? You mean Mandy?”, he asked gruffly. “How many sisters do you have?”, Lip replied just as bluntly. Mickey snorted. “Be right there.”, he said and hung up. 

 

The drive to the Gallagher house seemed longer than it had ever been. Mickey’s head was filled with thoughts about his sister. He had forgotten to ask Lip, if she was alright, but he guessed he wouldn’t have called, if that was the case. He hurried to park in front of the house, jumped out of the car and up the stairs. He tried to open the door but it was locked, so he knocked a couple of times. He was eyed warily through the window by Carl before he opened the door for him. 

Mickey entered the living room and looked around. Carl was to his left next to the stairs and on the coffee table sat Lip. He took a step forward to see who Lip was looking at and saw a woman with blond long hair laying there. She had her hands in front of her face, but Mickey was sure it was Mandy. He looked at Lip questioningly. Lip gave him a sign to follow him to the kitchen to talk. He gazed at Mandy again assuming that she was asleep and followed Lip.

“What the fuck, Philip?”, he said menacingly, when they entered the kitchen. Lip held up his hands to calm him down. “I don’t know where she came from, but she came here looking for Ian not for me!”, he tried to defend himself, “I guess she doesn’t know that you guys moved out.” Mickey snorted, running a hand over his face. “Well, what did she say? What happened?”, he said a little calmer, knowing that Lip wasn’t onto his sister again. “She didn’t say much, yet. Just that she wants to see Ian and that she needed his help.”, he replied, “Does she even know you are back? I mean did you know where she was all this time?” Mickey took a deep breath. “I haven’t seen or heard from her in eight years, when she moved to Indiana with that asshole.”, Mickey answered, “Nobody knew where she was, it wasn’t like I didn’t try to find her, when I got back.” Lip nodded. “Well, I guess, we can just wait, ‘till she wakes up.”, Lip sighed. Mickey raised his eyebrows. “Or, we could just wake the bitch up, already!”, Mickey blustered, turning around on his heels. 

Lip grabbed his shoulders when he tried to walk back towards the living room. “Stop! Mickey!”, he tried to stop him. Mickey looked at him as if he wanted to punch him. Lip let go of his shoulders quickly. “I’m just sayin’, she’s pretty out. Think she probably took something. It’d be better, if you didn’t wake her.” Mickey huffed, pushing Lip aside to go back to the living room. Apparently, Carl had gone to bed. 

He sat down next to his sister, laying a hand on her forehead to feel if she was sweating or if her temperature was higher than usual. She jerked away by the touch, slowly opening her eyes. Her eyes grew big, when she saw Mickey hovering over her. Her pupils were almost the size of her iris, so she was definitely on something. “Mick?”, she asked, blinking her eyes rapidly, “Oh shit, shit!” She twitched, scratching her cheek, then her arm, looking around nervously. “Fuckin’ hallucinatin’ now.”, she squealed, eying him suspiciously. Mickey sighed. “Go back to sleep, bitch.”, he said calmly, pushing her head back on the cushion. She stared at him for another two seconds, before she relaxed, laid her head back again and closed her eyes. 

Mickey looked up at Lip, sighing. Lip gesticulated an ‘I told you so’ and Mickey rolled his eyes as a response. He walked towards the front door to sit down at the stairs and have a smoke. He ran a hand over his face, when Lip sat next to him on the stairs, pulling out a joint. “This might be more effective.”, he said, lighting the joint and passing it on to Mickey. Mickey took it gladly, and took a deep drag, trying to hold the smoke in for a while before breathing out. 

He nodded, passing it back to Lip. “Sorry...”, he said, while continuing to smoke his cigarette. Lip shrugged. “Not like I’m used to you being friendly.”, he replied smirking. Mickey chuckled. “Yeah, well fuck me for being a dick.”, he sighed. “Thought my brother would do that...”, Lip laughed, which earned him a punch to his arm. “Ow! Motherfuck...”, he whined, rubbing his arm, still smirking, “Speak of the devil… Should we call the station and let Ian know that she’s here?” Mickey rubbed his chin, before pulling out his phone to make the call. 

 

“By the way, apparently I have two sisters.”, Mickey pointed out, taking the joint again after he had hung up. “Yeah right, Ian told me about meetin’ your mother and all.”, Lip said, leaning on his knees, “How’d you change your mind about her?” Mickey took a long drag and passed the joint back to Lip. “Just tired of holdin’ grudges, that’s all.”, he answered, folding his hands, and rubbing his eyes with his thumbs. 

“Good for you!”, Lip remarked, “You tired?” Mickey nodded, yawning in response. “You can sleep upstairs if you want.”, Lip suggested. “You wish!”, Mickey replied, stomping out the joint, which was burnt down. Lip chuckled. “You can also make yourself comfortable on the armchair, if that makes you feel better.”, he smirked at him. Mickey nodded again and went back inside, followed by Lip, who quickly went upstairs after handing Mickey a blanket. 

Mickey sat down on the armchair looking at his sister, lost in thought. Of course, he was happy she was alive, but the state she was in, worried him deeply. Who knew, what had happened to her? Did someone do this to her? He felt his protective instinct bubbling up again, while he watched his sister sleep. If there was someone to blame for this, he would find the guy and end him.


	8. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mandy is awake telling Ian part of her story. Ian tells her about his engagement to Mickey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An another chapter about Mandy. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for reading and of course your comments and kudos! I'm really glad so many people enjoy my writing :)

Mickey awoke by the rattling of the door. He had barely slept the night because the armchair was incredibly uncomfortable to sleep on. It was still dark outside, when the door to the living room opened with a creak. He blinked at the tall figure standing in front of him, but he recognized him quickly. It was Ian. 

“Mick?”, he whispered, looking in his direction. “Hey.”, Mickey greeted Ian, taking his phone to light the way for Ian. Ian greeted him with a kiss. “What’s goin’ on?”, he asked, “Why are you here? What happened?” Mickey pointed at the sofa with the light of his phone, where his sister was still sleeping. Ian raised his eyebrows, before he suddenly realized, who was in front of him. “What the fuck?”, he gasped, still staring at the woman on the couch, “What’s she doing here?” 

Mickey shrugged. “Don’t know. Apparently she wanted to see you.”, he replied. “But what happened? Did she say something?”, Ian continued to ask. Mickey shrugged again. “She was on something earlier… probably E or maybe acid.” Ian shook his head in disbelief. “Jesus… ”, he said, covering his mouth with his hand.

Ian sat on the floor, in front of Mickey, leaning against his legs. “Wanna sleep a bit?”, Mickey asked quietly, stroking his hair. “I don’t think I can sleep now...”, he replied, gazing at Mandy. Mickey rubbed his eyes that were still heavy from sleep. “Alright… have to get up soon anyway.”, he said, standing up and moving towards the kitchen, “Gonna make some coffee.”

 

Mickey was about to pour himself a second cup, when they heard Mandy shifting on the couch. Both Ian and Mickey jumped up from the kitchen table, when they saw her sitting up. “Fuck...”, she mumbled, holding her head. Ian was quickly by her side, holding a bottle of water out for her. She looked up at him and smiled sleepily. “Hey, you!”, she said with a sigh of relief, flinging her arms around his neck to hug him tightly, before taking the water bottle out of his hands. She took a few sips, when she suddenly realized who was standing behind Ian.

Her eyes grew big again and she quickly lowered the water bottle. She grabbed Ian’s arm and pulled him down to meet his gaze face to face. “Am I still trippin?”, she asked him slowly, looking back at Mickey. Ian chuckled. “No bitch, it’s really me!”, Mickey answered for Ian. She looked back at Ian unbelievingly to see Ian nodding. “What are you standing over there then, douchebag? Give me a damn hug!”, she demanded smirking and stood up to pull her brother in a tight hug, which he reciprocated . “What the fuck happened to you?”, he asked, when they pulled apart, “And why the fuck, were you nowhere to be found?” 

Mandy lowered herself on the couch again, taking another sip of her water bottle. “Could ask you the same thing… “, she replied, her eyes shifting between her brother and Ian, “Are you guys back together?” Ian smiled at her. “Engaged.”, he simply said, holding up his hand to show her his engagement ring. She shook her head, her face growing into one big smile. “No fuckin’ way!”, she exclaimed, grabbing Ian’s hand to have a closer look on the ring. Mickey still stood arms crossed next to them, when she suddenly looked up at him again. “You fuckin’ asshole! You did it!”, she squealed happily. 

“Yeah, yeah, enough with the fuckin’ cheers! You can braid each other’s hair later! Now, can you finally tell me what happened to you?”, Mickey demanded irritated. Mandy shook her head, still grinning. “Grumpy as always! One might think that you’ve changed in all these years but no Mikhailo is still a grumpy old man trapped in a young man’s body!”, she laughed. He flipped her off in response. “Whatever, excuse me for caring you stupid bitch!”, he replied. 

“Mandy seriously… Is everything alright?”, Ian asked, to interrupt the quarrels. He sat down next to her, looking at her worriedly. She avoided eye contact with him by staring down at her water bottle. “Um… can we talk alone?”, she asked shyly. Ian looked up at Mickey. “Fine! Whatever! Gotta head out to work anyway!”, Mickey sighed annoyed, “You better still be here, when I come back!” He gave Ian a quick kiss, before snatching his coat and walking out the front door.

Mandy sighed and she suddenly looked years older. Ian thought, she looked a lot like her mom as she sat there and gazed at him insecurely. He took her hands in his and they were silent for a while. “I’m pregnant… “, she whispered, a tear rolling down her face. Ian looked at her surprised. “Pregnant? By who?”, he asked, stroking her hand with his thumb. She shook her head slowly. “Some guy in New York.”, she sobbed, “Dated him for a while, turned out to be a violent douche… dumped him.” The tears were flowing freely now and she quickly tried to wipe them away. “I’m sorry Ian. I know we haven’t seen each other in years but I didn’t know, where else to go… “

He nodded and rubbed her shoulder so she leaned on his chest to cry it out. “Need a place to stay?”, he asked her carefully. She nodded in his shoulder. “Alright, so how about we go to the diner around the corner and order the biggest pile of pancakes we can find?”, he suggested. She looked up at him with a sad smile and nodded. 

Ian quickly ran up the stairs to let his brother know they were heading out, before he packed up Mandy in her coat and they were leaving the Gallagher house. “Don’t you have any more things with you?”, he asked her, when he only saw her purse dangling from her shoulder. She just shook her head and smiled awkwardly. He had the feeling there was still a lot more he hadn’t heard about her story, but he would give her the time she needed to share it with him.

 

“So you and my brother again, huh?”, Mandy smiled and took a sip of coffee, while they were waiting for their pancakes. Ian returned her smile, shrugging. “Yeah… Old loves die hard, I guess.”, he responded sheepishly. “So it’s real love then?”, she asked. Ian laughed. “I mean, it should be if we’re gettin’ married… “, he pointed out, blushingly. She shook her head. “I still can’t belief that my brother is actually gettin’ married to you. And you to him… it’s so weird!”, she laughed. “Yeah I know what you mean!”, he replied, “sometimes I can’t belief it either.” They both grinned shyly at each other.

“When did he propose anyway?”, she asked curiously. Ian took a big gulp of his coffee. “On my birthday last year… we were out dancing and he got outrageously drunk.”, he chuckled at the memory. “My brother?”, she asked surprised, “My brother went dancing with you?” She eyed him disbelievingly. Ian shook his head. “Nah, couldn’t get him to… we were out with friends and my siblings.”, he replied, smirking, “he just stood at the bar and got shit-faced.” Mandy giggled at the image. 

“So was it a crackpot idea or did he plan all this?”, she continued to ask. “Well, he had a ring, so he must’ve planned it.”, Ian answered with a lot of love in his eyes, “he had really been on edge that day, going on my nerves.” Mandy laughed again. “Yeah I still don’t get, how you put up with him.”, she replied, taking another sip, “So did he get down on one knee all formal and shit?” 

“No, he sat on the bathroom floor, after puking his guts out.”, Ian said still grinning, “I think he was just incredulously nervous but he was also really sweet, despite all the puking.” Mandy nodded. “Yeah I think you’re really it for him… probably have always been.”, she sighed, before the waitress came and brought their food. They ate in silence.

 

“So you’re going to keep it?”, Ian asked on the way to their apartment. Mandy sighed. “Don’t really have much of a choice… “, she replied. He raised his eyebrows in question. “Why’s that?”, he asked. They walked a few more steps before she replied: “If I ever want to have a child I have to keep it… probably won’t get pregnant twice.” He still couldn’t figure out what she meant, so she continued. “My doctor told me it’s a miracle that I got pregnant in the first place… apparently the doctors botched at my last abortion. I don’t even know, if I can carry it out but I don’t wanna mess up my chances.” Ian took a deep breath, processing the amount of information. 

“So,… you need my help with finding a place or…?”, he asked carefully. She laughed and slapped his arm. “Don’t worry! I’m not asking you to raise my baby, dickhead!”, she chuckled, “I just need a place to crash until things have calmed down.” He looked at her quizzically again. “The guy… the father… he wants the baby, too.”, she replied. “Isn’t that every pregnant woman’s wish?”, Ian asked gingerly. “’course, if I wanted to repeat my mother’s mistake.”, she answered, her face turning dark.

It suddenly came to Ian that Mandy didn’t even know about their mother, yet. His face must’ve given away his thoughts because she eyed him suspiciously. “What’s goin’ on?”, she asked, slapping his arm again. “Um… “, he started but it didn’t really feel right for him to tell this story, “Uh… I think you should talk to Mickey.” She gazed at him warily. “What? Think he’d kick me out?”, she asked worriedly. Ian shook his head. “No, that’s not… no he wouldn’t kick you out.”, he quickly replied, “Doesn’t matter now, let’s just go home!” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her further along the street.

Ian wondered how Mandy would react to the news that their mother was still alive. He couldn’t picture her freaking out like Mickey did, but then again he had never seen Mickey freak out like that before. He didn’t know, if she even remembered enough to be that mad, since she couldn’t be older than five at the time. They walked the rest of the way to the apartment in silence.


	9. 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey is having a hard time with Mandy's story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me for the cliffhanger. I'll try and wrap up the next chapter as soon as I can, but I simply can't concentrate at the moment.  
> Hope you enjoy the new chapter anyway! Prepare for a lot of quarreling :)
> 
> Also note that I edited the series title, since the series will not only be about Mickey meeting his mother, but more about his and Ian's life. I took the title from a poem I recently read by Robert Frost called 'The Road not taken'. The last lines of the poem are 'Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.' I thought it kinda fits the story. Check it out if you're into poetry! :)
> 
> Thank you for reading! :)

Mickey looked at himself in the mirror in the changing room of the martial arts center. He had a black eye because he hadn’t payed attention during training. In general, training today had been crucial for him. His head was filled with thoughts about his sister and the lack of sleep had made him heedless. He went up to the office to collect his stuff.

“Everything alright with you?”, Tory asked, sitting at a computer. Tory was one of the owners of the center and mainly responsible for the different self-defense courses they offered. She was also the one, who had pushed Mickey to coach at the center for a living, instead of doing occasional jobs all year. Nobody said ‘no’ to Tory and Mickey was glad he had taken the opportunity back then.

“Yeah.”, he grunted, grabbing his coat and backpack, before noting down his hours for that day. “Did another mother appear?”, she asked jokingly, still staring at the screen. “Nah.”, he snorted, while looking up the work schedule for tomorrow. “Alright.”, she said and turned around on her chair to face him, “I’m going to need your help next week with one of the self-defense courses. Jared bailed again and I need someone reliable for the ladies! You in?” Mickey frowned at her. He usually coached single clients for different martial arts or fitness, but never did he coach a horde of women trying to learn self-defense. 

“You’ll get paid more.”, she tried to convince him with a smirk. “What would I have to do?”, he asked a little more interested. “Basically you just play predator and let me demonstrate, how to knock you out.”, she answered, clearly looking forward to the knocking out part. He raised his eyebrows and ran a hand over his face. “Alright. Let me think about it.”, he sighed and walked out the door. “See ya tomorrow!”, she chirped after him. 

 

He picked up a waterproof phone for Ian on his way home because he was certain Ian hadn’t bought one yet and it annoyed him if he wasn’t reachable. Especially, when a drugged up Mandy had just appeared out of nowhere. What were the odds of this happening twice in only two months anyway? Two women that were related to him and that were close to him, who he thought he had lost forever, suddenly reappeared. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, before he started the car to drive home. He still needed to tell Mandy about their mother. And more importantly, he needed to tell Anastasia that her daughter was here. But first he needed to find out what was going on with Mandy.

 

When Mickey entered the apartment, he found his sister and his fiancé on the couch together, watching some lame TV show. Mandy was all curled up on Ian’s side and Ian had laid an arm over her. Ian gave him a big smile that let his heart leap for joy. “Hey Mick!”, he grinned happily, “What happened to your eye?” Mickey leaned down to kiss him quickly, before throwing the new phone in his lap, completely ignoring his question. Ian picked it up and looked at it suspiciously. 

“Grandpa phone?”, he asked, eying Mickey quizzically. Mickey chuckled. “Yeah so your dumbass can throw it in the toilet all day long without breaking it!”, he replied and sat next to him. “Thanks, I guess.”, Ian smiled at him. Mandy lifted her head sleepily. “Oh shit, what are you doin’ here?”, she asked drowsily, looking at Mickey. “I live here!”, he answered discourteously. She flipped him off. “Didn’t mean it like that, assface!”, she snorted, sitting up. 

“You wanna finally tell me, where you’ been all these years?”, he asked with raised eyebrows. She rubbed her eyes. “Well, why don’t you tell me where the fuck you’ been you fuckin’ jailbird!”, she replied just as rude. “You went away first!”, he snorted, “and you never fuckin’ called!” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Jesus, you never called either! Don’t pretend like you gave two shits about me!”, she shot back. Ian sighed in the middle of them. Mickey was just about to reply, when Ian raised his hands between them. “Enough!”, he said calmly, looking at both of them, “Stop playing the blame game it leads nowhere! You both screwed up!”

Mickey and Mandy both leaned back pouting. “Can’t you just talk like adults?”, Ian added irritated. Mickey finally stood up, went to the kitchen and brought back two glasses and a bottle of vodka. “Or we could talk like Milkoviches.”, he replied, putting the glasses and the bottle on the coffee table. Mandy and Ian shared a meaningful look. “What?”, Mickey asked confused. Mandy sighed. “I can’t drink.”, she responded. Mickey frowned at her. “Why the fuck not? You were high as a kite yesterday, but alcohol is too much for you? You pregnant or somethin’?”, he asked jokingly. When she didn’t reply, he sat back on the couch still staring at her. “Oh what the fuck...”, he sighed, covering his eyes with his hand, “Don’t you know how to use protection?” 

“You’re one to talk, right?”, she responded angrily, “As if you planned Yevgeny.” “Well, excuse me if I didn’t think of a rubber, when I had a fuckin’ gun pointed at my head.”, he shot back. She looked at him quizzically, and he suddenly realized that Mandy didn’t know about the incident with their father. “What’s that supposed to mean?”, she asked confused. He took a deep breath. “Doesn’t matter… ”, he sighed, a little calmer. Mandy looked at Ian, who had leaned back and simply shook his head. “Ok … so what are you goin’ to do?”, he asked, trying to change the topic away from him. 

Mandy seemed to settle down a little herself. She laid a hand on her belly, where nothing revealed her condition, yet. “I hope I can stay here until I’ve found my own place...”, she said, looking at him with her big blue eyes. Mickey opened the bottle of vodka and poured himself a glass. He downed it in one go and put the glass back on the table. “So you’re keepin’ it?”, he asked less angry. She nodded. “I have a little money saved up, so I’ll manage until the baby is born.”, she answered, before he could ask, “And after that I’ll look for a job, don’t worry.” 

Mickey poured himself another shot of vodka and snarled after he downed that one, too. “Who’s the dick?”, he asked, leaning back on the couch. Mandy looked at him uneasy. “He was my boyfriend in New York… “, she answered slowly. “And?”, he pushed her to continue, eyebrows raised. “He kinda wants the child, too.”, she replied carefully. “So, why aren’t you with him?”, he asked further because he suspected there was something more to Mandy’s story. “Because I realized, he’s like Terry and I don’t want that for my baby.”, she answered, wiping a tear away. Ian made an attempt to hug her, but she pulled away. 

Mickey ran a hand over his face and sighed. “So is that guy goin’ to come lookin’ for you?”, he asked worriedly. She shrugged. “I don’t know… he doesn’t know where I am, so I hope not...”, she stuttered, “I didn’t really plan on coming here, so… “ Mickey frowned again and stared out the window. Suddenly something crossed his mind. “What did you take yesterday?”, he asked, looking at her again. 

She shied away from his accusing look. “I… I panicked.”, she sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “You panicked that you’re pregnant and decided to take acid?”, he asked her bluntly. Ian gave him a look that made him shut up. “Greg threatened to kill me and I… I just needed somethin’… “, she blubbered out. Mickey rolled his eyes, filling his glass once more with vodka. “Were you in New York all this time?”, Ian asked carefully, patting her back. She looked up at him with tear-stained eyes and nodded. “Workin’ as an escort?”, he continued calmly. “Escort?”, Mickey exclaimed, which earned him Ian’s ‘shut up dumbass’ look again. She nodded again.

Mickey couldn’t wrap his head around it. He had expected some fucked up story, but his sister being an escort and pregnant wasn’t one of the scenarios he had thought of. He downed another vodka before getting up and grabbing his smokes. He headed out on their balcony to let the nicotine calm his nerves. Ian followed him a little later, leaving Mandy on the couch. 

“Could you be any more of an ass?”, Ian asked him outrightly. Mickey looked at him quizzically. “She’s pregnant and desperate and she needs our help!”, he bawled him out, “Picture yourself in her position and stop bein’ a dick!” Mickey was speechless by the sudden outburst of his fiancé. Now Ian was pissed at him, too. Great! He sighed, rubbing his forehead and took another deep drag from his cigarette. Ian seemed to calm down a bit, watching him. “You should tell her about your mother!”, he said, before returning inside.

Mickey followed him soon, when he was done smoking. He sat back on the couch across from Mandy and looked at her thoughtfully. “You can stay as long as you want.”, he said calmly and a smile appeared on her sad face. Mickey sighed again. He didn’t quite know how to start this conversation. “I… have to tell you something.”, he began, folding his hands in front of him. Mandy looked at him insecurely. “Mama’s alive.” , he said concisely.


	10. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mandy learns that their mother is still alive and Mickey has a bad dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another chapter! I hope it doesn't suck. :D  
> It's quite late where I am so I hope I didn't make any big mistakes concerning vocabulary or grammar. If I made a mistake that made your skin crawl then please let me know and I'll correct it. Criticism is greatly appreciated!  
> Thanks for the comments and the kudos, and as always: Thank you for reading :)

“Who’s Mama?”, Mandy asked confused. “Nasha maty.“, Mickey replied, hoping she would understand. Her eyes grew big, when she heard him speak Ukrainian. “You still speak?”, she asked surprised. He nodded. “What do you mean by ‘our mother’ is alive?”, she asked again, frowning at him. “She appeared on our doorstep about two months ago. Have been in contact ever since.”, he responded calmly. Mandy’s eyes filled with tears again. “Are you messin’ with me, right now? Because this isn’t funny!” He shook his head sincerely. 

“No, apparently she ran away, after Terry had almost beaten her to death.”, he tried to explain, “She remarried, had two more kids. They live near Carbondale, now.” Mandy shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be fuckin’ serious!”, she said quietly, her voice choking from tears. Ian stroke her back again, but she pulled away from the touch. “You’re tellin’ me that Mama was alive all these fuckin’ messed up years we lived with Terry?”, she asked enraged. Mickey nodded again. She leaned back, running a hand through her long hair, as tears fell down her cheeks. 

Ian reached for her again, but she slapped his hand away. “Jesus fuck! It’s just the hormones.”, she snapped at him. “I can call her, if you want to see her… ”, Mickey suggested carefully. She looked at him as if he had offended her. “Why the fuck would I want to see her?”, she exclaimed, “If she couldn’t stop by the past 20 years I don’t need her now!”

Ian chuckled at the snide remark and the similarity of the siblings’ reaction. She gave him a murderous look and he shut up immediately. “Alright.”, Mickey said relaxed and leaned back. Ian looked at him expectantly. “That’s all?”, he asked him. Mickey shrugged. “She doesn’t wanna meet her. She doesn’t have to.”, he replied. Ian rolled his eyes. That was such a Milkovich response. He looked over at Mandy, who still sobbed a little. 

“Don’t you want a grandmother for your baby?”, he asked her cautiously. She brushed away a tear from her cheek. “I don’t need her. I’ll manage just fine without her!”, she replied defiantly. Ian rolled his eyes again. Milkoviches. “It’s not a matter of need, but a matter of what’s in the best interest for your baby.”, he said calmly, “And for you.” She shook her head. “My baby is not goin’ to grow up knowin’ what a shit-show her grandparents were.”, she answered, “There will only be people in its life it can look up to… not people, who fuckin’ abandoned their kids.”

Ian ran a hand over his face. He couldn’t have this conversation again. She would see it eventually. Just like Mickey did. She just needed time to wrap her head around it and it was time for him to get ready for work anyway. He stood up and walked towards the bedroom. “Where’re you goin’?”, Mickey asked puzzled. Ian turned around on his heel. “Gotta head to work.”, he responded, “Night shift, like last night, remember?” Mickey stood up to follow him. “Wait did you even sleep today?”, he asked, eying him worriedly. Ian sighed. “I dozed on the couch for a bit before you came.”, he replied, “I’m not tired. It’s fine!” Mickey didn’t look satisfied with the answer. “You can’t go like that… “ 

Ian hated it, when Mickey looked at him like that. Like he was manic and about to do something crazy. “It’s fine! I can sleep tomorrow, when I come back!”, he tried to convince him, “I’m not manic, Mickey! I just didn’t have time to sleep today. Now please get off my ass. I have to get ready!” Mickey stepped out of his way, still not completely satisfied, but he couldn’t fight with Ian any more than he already had that day.

He followed Ian silently to the bedroom and watched him change. When Ian turned around to him again, Mickey quickly wrapped his arms around him. He returned the hug, burying his face in Mickey’s neck. “Sorry, okay?”, Mickey mumbled. Ian nodded and breathed in his scent. “You better be awake, when I return!”, Ian grinned, when they pulled apart and Mickey put on a dirty smile, “Gotta run, now!” He kissed Mickey quickly, grabbed his stuff, said goodbye to Mandy and was out the door.

Mickey returned to the living room and sat next to Mandy. “You guys are annoyingly cute!”, she commented smirking. He snorted and flipped her off. They sat in silence for a while, before Mandy spoke again: “What was that earlier, when you said you had a gun pointed at your head?” Mickey leaned his head back, stared at the ceiling and sighed. “You really wanna know?”, he asked her irritated. She nodded. “Sounded like you were raped by Svetlana.”, she chuckled. He ran a hand over his face and sighed again. “Terry caught Ian and me on the couch and payed Svetlana to fuck the gay out of me.”, he said tiredly. 

He was sick of being reminded of that story over and over again. Bad enough, Yevgeny reminded him of that awful day. Telling somebody about it, was even more painful. She looked at him sadly, but not the least surprised. “Piece of shit!”, she whispered disgusted. He nodded. “Yeah.”, he said quietly. One of the things he cherished about his sister and had truly missed about her were that she fully understood those ‘Terry incidents’. She had witnessed them herself too many times and they both had silently agreed not to pity each other for the shit they had gone through.

“Is he… Is he still inside?”, she asked carefully. Mickey nodded again. “As far as I know.”, he replied. She sighed relieved. “I hope he rots in there.”, she said with a lot of hate in her voice, before she suddenly started to laugh, “Can you imagine I fuckin’ picked a guy who’s just like him?” He gazed at her confused. “You’re a fuckin’ nutcase!”, he chuckled, “But I guess that’s our curse...” She punched his arm jokingly. “Well, you’re in the clear with Ian.”, she said, smiling at him, “He’s nothing like Terry. In fact, he’s the complete opposite.” Mickey smiled, gazing at the ceiling again. 

“Sometimes I’m afraid, I’m turning into him, you know?.”, he told her thoughtfully. She quickly shook her head. “Don’t be stupid!”, she chuckled, “I mean, don’t get me wrong... You’re pretty fuckin’ annoying, but I’m sure you won’t be turning into him!” He frowned, looking over at her. “Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?”, he asked. She shrugged. “Because you’re afraid of turning into him… you’re aware of that part of you.” He sighed thinking about her words and they fell silent again.

“So, you ran all happy family to mama, when she showed up here?”, Mandy asked after a while. Mickey snorted. “Nah, kicked her out at first.”, he responded, “But Ian got on my nerves and so I went to see her, you know.” She nodded absentmindedly, playing with her hair. “Did she have a good reason for leaving us?”, she asked. Mickey shrugged. “What’s a good reason for abandoning your kids?”, he asked in return. She chuckled. “Yeah, right.”, she mumbled lost in thought.

He got up again, took his smokes and went out on the balcony. He took a couple of drags before he headed back inside. He prepared a bed on the couch for Mandy and went to his and Ian’s bedroom. It had been a long day for them both. An exhausting day and Mickey was more than happy, when he rested his head on the pillow and the voices in his head finally shut up.

 

That night he dreamed he was in the living room of the Milkovich house again. He felt Ian’s presence behind him and something else. An imminent menace. He had had that dream before and it ended always the same. Ian got killed by Terry and there was nothing he could do about it. No matter how hard he punched or kicked Terry, he would still beat Ian to death. He usually woke up as soon as he realized Ian was dead and Terry faced him, but this time was different. His dad just continued to stare at him in disgust. “You fuckin’ aids-monkey!”, he growled and spat in front of his feet, “You’re a fuckin’ disappointment!” Terry moved towards him and Mickey stumbled backwards. He caught a look at Ian and his heart ached. Ian was lying on the floor, covered in blood and motionless. Mickey reached the wall behind him and Terry was so close, he could smell the booze in his breath. “I’ll show you, what you are!”, Terry growled threateningly. The scene suddenly changed around him. He still looked at Terry’s face, but it was framed now. It took him a second to realize that he looked in a mirror and he had turned into Terry. “Mickey!”, Ian’s voice sounded from far away. He looked down on his hands to see they weren’t tattooed, but full of blood. “Mick?”, he heard Ian’s voice again. All of a sudden, he became outrageously angry and clenched his fists. He took a big swing with his right and hit something hard. But it wasn’t the mirror. 

 

It was Ian’s chin. “Jesus fuck, Mick!”, Ian whined, holding the side of his face. Mickey just now realized what had happened and was quickly at Ian’s side apologizing. “Shit! I’m sorry!”, he said, taking Ian’s hand away to have a closer look. Luckily, he had been asleep and couldn’t put in too much power. A light red bruise formed on the side of Ian’s chin. “You can just tell me, if you’re not in the mood!”, Ian said irritated. Mickey stroked the part he had hit and kissed the spot lightly. “Sorry, I had a bad dream.”, he apologized. Ian eyed him warily. “Bad dream?”, he asked, eyebrows raised. “Yeah… I barely remember.”, Mickey lied. He still saw the anger and disgust in Terry’s eyes. In his eyes! The dream had shook him in more than one way.

Ian slowly ran a hand up his boxers. “I’ll give you something to dream about!”, he grinned devilishly as he leaned over to kiss Mickey on the lips. He returned the kiss, grabbing the back of Ian’s head and pulling him down with him on the bed. He wouldn’t be able to sleep now anyway. The memory of Terry’s disgusted face slowly faded, when Mickey felt Ian’s warm body on him.


	11. 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian is showing signs of being manic, Mickey has a difficult client and Mandy is finally getting around to meet her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy the new chapter :)

When Mickey moved to the shower, Ian was already fast asleep. He was relieved that Ian slept. The last thing he needed now was a manic Ian, he had to take care of, on top of it all. And then there was Mandy. He didn’t know what she was really up to. Was she really pregnant or was she just looking for an excuse not to return to New York? Anastasia had texted him last night after he had gone to bed. She was just checking in, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond to her yet. Not when Mandy was still struggling with the fact that she was still alive and he didn’t want to lie to his mother.

He rested his head on the cold bathroom wall in the shower. He really needed a break. The shower door opened and a naked Ian slipped in. Mickey slowly turned around to face him and was greeted by Ian’s warm smile. “You didn’t want to shower without me, did ya?”, Ian asked, leaning forward to kiss him tenderly. “You not tired?”, Mickey asked, when they pulled apart. “Right now, I don’t feel like sleeping.”, Ian replied and lowered himself to go down on his fiancé. 

Mickey knew he should stop this, because Ian was showing yet more signs of being manic, but he was just too tired to fight at the moment. And who was he to decline a blowjob in the shower? So he let it happen. He was just about to come, when Mandy blustered at the bathroom door. “Stop fucking in the shower and get out! I have to pee!”, she yelled from the hallway. Mickey was looking down at Ian, who refused to let him go until he was done, so he tried and closed his eyes again. 

A little later they both exited the bathroom, passing a furious Mandy. Mickey lost the the towel and put on some fresh boxers, when they entered the bedroom. “I already hate that she’s living here.”, he said, while looking for a clean shirt in the drawer. “Relax, it’s only until she found a place.”, Ian tried to calm him, “Besides we’re goin’ apartment huntin’ today!” Mickey pulled a simple black shirt over his head and turned around to face Ian. “You’re goin’ to sleep first!”, he told him firmly. Ian sighed and sat on the bed. “I’m okay… really!”, he tried to convince him, “I’m just excited that she’s here, that’s all.” Mickey eyed him suspiciously. “You haven’t really slept in two days and you’re jumpin’ my bones at any given opportunity… you don’t see anythin’ wrong with that?” Ian looked at him offended. “Sorry if I forced myself on you!”, he snapped at him, “It’s not like you complained!”

Mickey sighed. Manic Ian wasn’t easy to convince. “It’s not like that and you know it!”, he said calmly, “Ian, I’m just worried about you! Please just take some downers and go to sleep! We’ll make an appointment at your doc’s when I get back from work!” Ian rolled his eyes dramatically, but made his way to the kitchen to look for his meds.

Mickey just entered the kitchen, when Mandy got out of the bathroom. “Jesus you two are still like two horny teenagers! Can’t you just keep it in your pants outside the bedroom?”, she snapped at them. Mickey flipped her off and poured himself some coffee. “Not wearin’ any pants in the shower!”, Ian grinned at her, still only dressed in a towel. Mandy shook her head, grabbed a box of cereal from the kitchen shelf and started eating it out of the box. “You know we have bowls and milk, right?”, Mickey asked her with raised eyebrows. She just shrugged and continued to eat out of the box. 

“Alright you two!”, Mickey began his speech, putting down his cup on the counter. He looked at Ian first. “You are going back to bed and don’t get up for at least six hours!”, he said, before turning to Mandy, who was still munching cereal. “And you’re goin’ to let him sleep and keep it down, got it?” Both nodded in agreement. “Great!”, he grunted sarcastically. He fetched his backpack, gave Ian a quick kiss and mussed up Mandy’s hair, before he was out the door. “Asshole!”, she yelled after him, but he was already gone.

 

At the center, he was greeted by an excited Tory in the office. “Hey, you thought about the courses?”, she asked him, tying her hair together. He had not. “Um, yeah, no not really… ”, he stuttered, sheepishly. “Oh, come on! It’s easy and it’s some extra money!”, she tried to convince him, “I know you need it with the upcoming wedding and all!” She smiled at him because she knew she got him with the money argument. He sighed, gesturing a ‘whatever’. “Great!”, she said cheerily, “I’ll fill you in on the details later! You got a new client today. Big guy! He’s already waiting at the gym downstairs.” 

Mickey quickly changed and ran downstairs to meet this new client. He was at least 6.4 ft. and probably weighed twice as much as Mickey. He knew at first sight that this guy was trouble. Guys like that came in here a lot. They wanted muscles to impress the girls and they just loved to get into Karate or Boxing to rough people up. Their egos were usually bigger than their biceps and their brains smaller than their self-control.

Mickey approached him and the big guy eyed him suspiciously. “Hey I’m Mickey, I’m your coach!”, he introduced himself. The guy shook his hand. “Al.”, the guy grunted, “You sure you’re the guy? You don’t even look like you’re into MMA.” Mickey rolled his eyes. Sure, he was that kind of guy. He nodded. “What’s your record?”, Al asked still skeptic. Mickey sighed. “22 wins, one lose by k. o.”, he replied, hating to justify himself. Al nodded. “Why the knockout?”, he asked. Mickey rubbed his forehead. That guy was already a pain in the ass. “Ruptured spleen.”, he answered concisely, “You wanna doubt me more or start training?” The guy finally seemed to back down a little. “Alright, alright, just had to check if you’re a fuckin’ pussy!”, Al replied smirking. Mickey sighed but at least they could begin now. They started with basic fitness exercises to build up muscle, before they proceeded with the punching bag.

Al was out of breath after the first few punches. Mickey grinned because he had known from the beginning that this guy wouldn’t get far today. “Take a break, drink some water.”, Mickey said, holding the punching bag still. “Don’t… need a break!”, Al grunted breathless, “Can… take it… like a man,… not a faggot!” And of course he was an idiot homophobe. “I didn’t ask you to! Take a fuckin’ break!”, Mickey demanded firmly, still trying to stay friendly. Al was looking at him angrily, holding onto the punching bag for stability. “You don’t fuckin’ order me! I fuckin’ pay you!”, he grunted in response. Mickey was fit to be tied. Not only was the guy annoying, he was also stubborn. “When you black out, because I pushed you too hard, it’s on me, okay? So when I tell you to sit the fuck down and take a fuckin’ break, you do as I say or I’ll make you!”, he replied furiously. 

Al straightened himself up in his full height. Mickey continued to stare at him, but that just seemed to provoke him more. “I’d like to see you try!”, Al said with a lot of faith in himself. He didn’t have to ask Mickey twice. He would have loved to punch the guy in the face, but instead he grabbed his shirt, threw him over one leg and let him down gently, because he didn’t want to be sued for battery. Before Al knew it, he sat on the floor. Surprised, he looked up at Mickey. “You’re not a wimp after all.”, he mumbled, taking the bottle of water, Mickey offered him. “Yeah, you better listen next time!”, Mickey snorted, still pissed. 

He ran a hand over his face, hoping the day would pass quickly. He thought about the dream, he had had last night and how horrifying it was for him to see himself as Terry. His words still echoed in his head. Al was finally regaining his breath and looked up at him. “You know, I thought you were like the other faggot coaches I tried to work with, but I guess you know what you’re talking about.”, he said chuckling. Mickey sighed, looking over at the clock of the gym. Finally, his time was up. He looked back at Al, who slowly stood up again. “Yeah, well you just got your ass kicked by a faggot, so maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover!”, Mickey replied smirking and Al’s face fell, “Also your time’s up! Thanks for your visit! See you soon!” Mickey waved him goodbye and without waiting for him to respond, he turned around on his heel to run up the stairs to the office again.

Tory was sitting at the computer again doing finances, when Mickey entered. “How was it?”, she asked without looking up. “You should know that already!”, he snapped at her. She turned around to look at him, eyebrows raised. “Yeah, apparently he tried a few different ‘faggot’ coaches before you set him up with me.”, he continued. She chuckled. “Yeah, so? Do you have ‘gay’ tattooed on your face? Do you feel offended by every asshole that comes here, throwing that word around?”, she asked in return. He snorted, but said nothing. “Did you kick his ass?”, she asked concerned. He shook his head. “Not really, I was gentle.”, he said a little calmer, “But I doubt he’ll come back.” She rolled his eyes at him. “You really don’t know how to run this place.”, she sighed. 

Mickey didn’t care if he had lost the client. He was an asshole anyway and he was glad he got rid of him. He had only four more hours to kill, until he could return home. Despite the fact that his sister was annoying the fuck out of him and Ian was probably manic, he was really looking forward to it.

 

Ian had almost slept the full six hours, Mickey had demanded of him and he felt a little better. He was just walking into the kitchen, when he saw Mandy at the fridge. “Already, craving for something weird?”, he asked her jokingly. She turned around startled. “Jesus, Ian. Fuck, you scared me!”, she replied, holding a piece of cheese in her hand, she had obviously just started eating. He laughed at her and she flipped him off in response. “You guys really don’t go grocery shopping that much, huh?”, she asked in return. Ian shrugged. “Don’t have the time.”, he simply responded. 

She sat at the kitchen table with a bottle of mustard and the remaining slices of cheese. Ian frowned at the choice of food. “Don’t fuckin’ judge me, asshole!”, she said and started to put mustard on the cheese, before taking a bite. He smirked and sat next to her. “You thought about meeting Anastasia again?”, he asked carefully, expecting the conversation to escalate again, but she just looked at him thoughtfully. “Maybe… I don’t know yet.”, she said insecurely. He nodded silently, grabbing a slice of cheese himself and shoving it into his mouth. “What would you do?”, she asked him seriously. 

He shrugged. “I’m all for family.”, he said with a mouth full of cheese, “I mean, so far your mom seems to be a better parent than your dad has ever been and I only know her for like two months.” “Yeah, but Terry would have been a better parent, if he had been absent, too!”, she chuckled. Ian had to agree to that.. “How does Mickey manage with her?”, she asked him. Ian scratched the back of his head. “Fine, I guess.”, he answered, “I mean at first he was pissed at her for leaving and all, but I think he got around, now. They’re texting and phoning sometimes.” Mandy looked down on her meal absentmindedly. “I don’t know, if I can forgive her for the crap she pulled.”, she whispered and Ian saw her eyes filling with tears again. “Those stupid fuckin’ hormones!”, she yelled, wiping her eyes angrily. When she calmed down a bit, she sighed again. “I guess, meeting her wouldn’t be the worst idea… I mean, who’s left of my family anyway? I only have you guys!”, she said, licking mustard from her fingers, with a sad smile. 

Ian took her hand in his. “I don’t think you’ll regret it!”, he said, smiling back at her and she started to laugh. Ian looked at her quizzically. “It can’t get more fucked up than this anyway, right?”, she laughed, holding her belly, “I have nothing to lose.” Ian chuckled and nodded in response. “So wanna look for some apartments?”, he asked her, when she had stopped laughing. She nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, let’s go!”


	12. 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey and Ian talk about having children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is a little unconventional since it doesn't have to do much with Anastasia but it just fit in the time frame of events. Also I know I'm prolonging Mandy finally meeting her mother, but I'll write that chapter soon. I promise :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Thank you for reading :)

It was a sunny Sunday and Mickey was at the Gallagher house with Ian to spend the afternoon. Mandy had stayed at home to look for apartments on the Internet, since yesterday’s search had not been as successful. She probably also chose not to come to avoid Lip. Mickey had never understood their relationship. He didn’t know, if it had been merely physical or if there had been more involved, he just knew that Lip had wrecked her back then and he wouldn’t let that happen again.

These days Mickey actually got along great with Lip. It wasn’t like they were best friends but they accepted each other and were able to have conversations without insulting the other all the time. At least not seriously. Even Fiona had started to like and appreciate him, despite her earlier concerns. And who could blame her? Surely, no one would want their bipolar brother date an ex-con… again! But he proved to her and to the rest of the Gallaghers that he had changed. He tried to walk the line and provided a stable environment for Ian. Everything for Ian. 

And also a little bit for himself. Having a regular job, a steady income and a boring normal daily routine wasn’t that bad. In any case, it was better than the alternative. It was better than being on the run his entire life. It was better than uncertainty. And it was definitely better than prison. He was safe now and Ian was safe, too. He had all the people, he cared for, safe and he was hoping it would stay that way.

Ian stood in the kitchen balancing Debbie’s second born on his hips. Another little girl by the name Joanna, who had just turned one the other day. He made all sorts of funny faces to make her laugh, while Mickey was watching him from the kitchen table, a cold beer in his hand. “Thinkin’ about having another child after the wedding, too?”, Debbie asked, when she sat next to him at the table, jolting him from his thoughts. He looked at her in surprise. “Ah, what?”, he asked confused. “Adoption?”, she answered, “Or you could use a surrogate, maybe?”. Mickey shook his head because the thought of having another child had never crossed his mind. Having one child had never even crossed his mind before Yevgeny came along.

Ian sat with them at the kitchen table and put Joanna back in her mother’s arms. “Whatcha talkin’ about?”, he asked, still making faces to the baby, who giggled in response. “I just asked Mickey, if you think about having a baby yourselves after the wedding… “, Debbie responded smiling. Ian raised his eyebrows looking at Mickey. “So, are we thinking about it?”, he asked Mickey, but before he could answer, Fiona appeared from upstairs. “Thinkin’ about what?”, she asked as well. “Mickey and Ian having a baby after the wedding.”, Debbie answered her. Mickey ran a hand over his face, clearly annoyed by the sudden attention. 

“Really?”, Fiona asked surprised, sitting down next to Ian, “You guys are thinkin’ about that?” Mickey sighed irritated. “No, no we’re really not!”, he answered quickly and Ian’s face fell. “Why not?”, Debbie and him asked with one voice. “Do you really think, we’re cut out to be parents?”, he asked in response, “Cause I don’t!” Ian looked at him frowning. “I think we would be great parents!”, he replied, “We are great parents to Yevgeny!” “Yeah, but it’s not like we really had a choice. Or him. and besides he’s only with us every two weeks for two days. We can’t really screw up much, if he’s not there.”, Mickey answered, taking another sip of his beer. 

“And why would we screw up?”, Ian asked defiantly. Mickey sighed again, scratching his forehead. “Do I really need to spell this out for you?”, he asked in return, trying to keep his cool. “Please!”, Ian said sarcastically. He took a deep breath, hoping this conversation wouldn’t turn into a major argument. “I’m a fuckin’ ex-con with almost zero patience and you… you are… ”, he stuttered, realizing that it wasn’t fair to reduce Ian to his disease. “I’m bipolar!”, Ian finished for him, looking at Mickey disappointedly. “Yeah, you’re bipolar.”, Mickey repeated calmly. “So you still think, I’m a danger to kids? A danger to Yev? You really wanna reproach me for the past, again?”, Ian exclaimed furiously. 

Mickey closed his eyes for a second, gathering all the patience he had to not snap at Ian. “I’ve never reproached you for anything and I’m not saying you’re a danger to kids. I don’t think you’re a danger to anyone!”, he replied firmly. “Then what are you sayin’? That I’m gonna take off like my mom? Or yours?”, Ian continued his rage. Mickey became silent. “That’s it, right?”, Ian said, “You’re afraid I’ma take off and leave you alone?” Mickey shook his head. “I’m just tryin’ to be fuckin’ reasonable here, Ian.”, he replied calmly. Ian stood up, looking at Mickey still angry. “I’m not my mother!”, he exclaimed and stormed off. “Charming.”, Debbie remarked sarcastically before she quickly handed Joanna over to Fiona and went after Ian. 

Fiona stared at Mickey, who tried to avoid her look. “I get it, you know?”, she suddenly said. He gazed at her confusedly. He had expected her to accuse him of being a dick to talk to her brother like that, but he really didn’t expect understanding. “I had a bipolar mother, I know what it’s like…”, she continued, “and Ian knows it, too.” She looked at Joanna and stroke her hair tenderly. “I know Ian would be a great dad! He is a great dad!”, Mickey tried to explain, “It’s just… “ He looked around trying to find the right words, “… I don’t see myself taking care of Ian and taking care of a child! I mean, what if he’s depressed and can’t get out of bed for several days? It’s already hard enough as it is!” Fiona nodded. “Yeah, I know… “, she replied absentmindedly. “I just want some peace and quiet for a while.”, he sighed.

“Apart from Ian”, she suddenly said, “do you want kids?” Mickey took another sip of his beer and shrugged. “Don’t know… I haven’t really thought about it.”, he answered, looking down at his beer. “I just want Ian in my life. I don’t care about the rest.” Fiona smiled at him. “You’re great with Yevgeny.”, she remarked. He snorted. “Yeah, alright, not beating or abandoning him doesn’t make me a great father.”, he responded. Fiona shook her head. “You really don’t give yourself enough credit!”, she smirked at him. He shrugged again. “I only wanted Yevi to have a better childhood than I had and for him to know both his parents. I don’t know, if his life is better with me in it, but at least he knows I care.” Fiona patted his arm. “That’s what a good father would say.”, she chuckled. He quickly pulled his arm away, uncomfortable with the sudden affection. 

He scratched the back of his head and stood up. She looked at him quizzically. “Gotta go talk to Ian… “, he explained and walked towards the living room. “You’re so whipped!”, she called after him laughing and he flipped her off in response, before he was out of her sight.

He opened the front door of the Gallagher house and saw Ian and Debbie sitting on the stairs. Debbie scowled at him and he gestured with his hands that she should leave. She passed him reluctantly, going back inside. He sat next to Ian but Ian refused to look at him. He just stared straight forward at the street. 

“Ian, come on!”, he tried to get him to talk, “You know I didn’t mean it like that!” Ian snorted. “Yeah, of course you didn’t.”, he said defiantly, “But it’s still not fuckin’ fair that you pull this crap on me all the fuckin’ time!” Mickey sighed. “Can’t we just take one step at a time, please?”, he asked calmly, “We moved in together, now we’re gettin’ married… do we have to talk about having kids, already?” Ian frowned at him. “I don’t want you to fuckin’ make decisions for us alright? I have a disease, I’m not a child and by the way I get it, okay? It’s not like I didn’t grow up with a bipolar mother!”, Ian snapped, “I’m not like her! I would never abandon my children… or my husband!”

“Ian, we never even had that conversation until now and I didn’t decide shit for us.”, Mickey replied and Ian actually seemed to cool down a bit. He took a deep breath. “I know I’m a little off lately…“, he said quietly, “but this is not the disease talkin’! I don’t wanna miss out on being a father someday… and I… I need to know that you’re with me on this!“ He looked at him dead serious. Mickey sighed. “Okay… maybe… someday… in like ten years, we can think about that stuff, alright?”, he replied carefully but it seemed to please Ian because a smile started to spread on his face. “Maybe five years.”, he said grinning and Mickey rolled his eyes at him. He grabbed Mickey by the back of his head and kissed him. 

Mickey pulled away too quick and started looking around frantically. Ian just laughed at him. Even after all these years, Mickey still wasn’t comfortable with public affection. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one. “We’re gonna turn into such a fuckin’ cliché!”, Mickey sighed, taking a deep drag. “Yeah, and you’re gonna love it!”, Ian smirked. Mickey shook his head at him, but returned the smile. He would love it. He was sure about it. As long as he had Ian, he definitely would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so having kids is not off the table for the two, but it just all needs time to develop. So be patient ;) 
> 
> Spoiler: It won't happen before the wedding and Mandy will raise her own child... at least for a while *wink* *wink*


	13. 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anastasia pays a visit but she brings bad news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the new chapter! Hope you like it :)

Ian and Mickey left the Gallagher house after dinner. When they pulled up at their usual parking spot they already saw Anastasia’s car parking around the corner. “What’s she doin’ here?”, Ian asked Mickey and he shrugged. “No idea… surprise visit?”, he assumed, opening the car door. As soon as they were out the car, Anastasia came running towards Mickey. She wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him in for a tight hug. 

“Thank god you’re alright!”, she sighed in his shoulder in Ukrainian. “Why wouldn’t I be?”, he asked surprised, when they pulled apart. She turned around to hug Ian as well, who had quickly walked around the car. “I thought something happened! You didn’t answer your phone and I couldn’t reach Ian either!”, she said worriedly. Mickey frowned at her. Never in his entire live had somebody been worried about him, because he had not answered his phone. Besides Ian of course, who always went batshit crazy, whenever he couldn’t reach him.

“Sorry… I was busy.”, Mickey shrugged, hoping the answer was satisfying. “I dropped my phone in the toilet this week.”, Ian tried to explain. They felt like little boys that came home too late, standing like that in front of Anastasia. She smiled her motherly smile and took Mickey’s hand. “I’m just glad everything is okay.”, she said caring, but looked nervously around her, “Now, can I bother you for a coffee, before I hit the road again?” Mickey and Ian shared a meaningful look that made her suspicious immediately. “What? You got no coffee?”, she chuckled.

“Um, I just gotta clean up real quick, before you come in… “, Ian excused himself and ran inside the apartment building. Mickey was relieved that he could at least warn Mandy or hide her, in case she still didn’t want to see her mother. Anastasia shook her head. “You two don’t clean much?”, she asked, with raised eyebrows. They actually didn’t. The last time Anastasia was in their apartment with her family, they had spent a whole day cleaning. And that had also been the last time they had really cleaned the whole thing. Thank god for dishwashers. 

He just smiled shyly at her and hoped she wouldn’t ask further questions. He really hated to lie, when the lie was unnecessary. “Boys!”, she said, rolling her eyes and still not letting go of his hand. “I really missed you!”, she said, running a thumb over his hand. He looked down at the floor sheepishly and nodded. It felt weird that she was so affectionate, when he had only had her back in his life for like two months. 

“Why did you think something happened, just because I didn’t answer my phone in four days?”, he asked, all of a sudden. She gazed at him worriedly again. “You haven’t heard, yet?”, she asked, fear spreading all over her face. He frowned again. “Heard what?”, he asked confused. She swallowed. “Terry’s out!”

 

When Ian made it to the apartment, Mandy lay on her back on the couch, balancing a laptop on her knees. “Can you believe rental prices these days?”, she asked him absentmindedly. He was a little out of breath from running up the stairs, so he held onto the wall before he could speak. “Everything okay?”, she asked laughing, “Did you race with my brother and he’s still on first floor?” He shook his head. “No,… Anastasia’s here!”, he said, still breathless. 

Her eyes grew big. “You told her?”, she exclaimed accusingly. He shook his head again. “No, she wanted to check on us because she couldn’t reach us for a couple days… she doesn’t know you’re here!”, he answered, leaning on the wall. She stared at him unbelievingly. “What am I going to do, now?”, she asked him desperately. He shrugged. “Your choice… you hide in the bedroom or you face her.”, he answered calmly. She put the laptop on the coffee table and stood up. “I don’t know what to do!”, she said nervously, but the decision was already made for her. They heard the door opening and Mickey and Anastasia came in. 

Mickey peeked around the corner of the living room and Anastasia was quick to follow him. “Doesn’t look so bad here!”, she said, looking around. When her eyes fell on Mandy she stopped dead in her tracks. Mandy just stared back at her, her eyes filling with tears. “Mama.”, she whispered. Anastasia walked with two careful steps towards her daughter. The two women looked at each other for a second, before Mandy flung her arms around Anastasia’s neck and sobbed in her shoulder. Anastasia held her and stroked her back, mumbling soothing words in Ukrainian. 

Mickey looked over at Ian, who was still leaning on the wall and gave him a sign to follow him on the balcony. Ian nodded and they went outside, closing the door silently behind them. Mickey pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one for himself. Ian looked at the two women inside still hugging and smiled. “I knew it.”, he said triumphantly. Mickey breathed out and looked at him nervously. “What?”, Ian asked confused. “Anastasia said that Terry’s out.”, Mickey replied, scratching his bottom lip.

Ian frowned. “Terry’s out? You sure?”, he asked, “Wouldn’t someone notify us, if that was the case?” Mickey took another deep drag of his cigarette. “And who would give a shit? Nobody notified us because nobody fuckin’ cares!”, Mickey snapped at him. Ian rubbed his forehead in thought. “So, what do we do? I mean do you think he’s after us? After you?”, he asked concerned. Mickey shrugged. “No fuckin’ clue but he loves to hold a grudge! And since I was the reason he violated his parole last time, it’s likely that he wants revenge.”, he concluded. Ian held on to the handrail and sighed. “We should call the police!”, he suggested. Mickey shook his head. “They can’t do shit, if he doesn’t violate his parole.”, he answered thoughtfully. 

“Then we should make him violate his parole!”, Ian replied anxiously. Mickey frowned at him. “Whatcha wanna do? Invite him to the wedding and hope that he’ll shoot us before we say ‘I do’? No thanks!”, he said taking another drag of his cigarette, “No man, we can’t do shit! We can just hope that he screws up somehow or that he forgot I ever existed!” Ian grabbed the handrail with two hands now. “Fuck!”, he exclaimed, which earned him the attention of the two women inside. 

“Everything alright?”, Anastasia asked, when she opened the balcony door. Ian turned around to face her. “Are you sure Terry’s out?”, he asked her firmly. “Terry’s out?”, Mandy asked shocked and appeared in the door herself. Anastasia sighed. “I have a friend, who works at the prison and who notified me that Terry was released on parole, Friday morning.”, she replied, “That’s why I drove up here… I thought something had happened.” 

Mickey closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. Ian touched his arm and opened them again to face him. “Mick, what are we goin’ to do?”, he asked him worriedly. Mickey sighed and stomped out his cigarette. “As I said, we can’t do shit! We have to wait for him to screw up!”, he replied and went back inside. “Do you guys have a gun?”, Mandy asked her brother, suddenly. “Yeah, why?”, he asked in response. “For fuckin’ protection!”, she snapped at him. 

“Fuck protection! We should just fuckin’ end him already! He has terrorized us long enough!”, Ian exclaimed. Mickey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, alright Army, one of us pulls the trigger and we’ll end up in prison… great plan!”, he replied sarcastically. “You could hide where I live!”, Anastasia suggested, “He doesn’t even know I’m still in Illinois and it would be safer than Chicago!” Mickey ran a hand over his face. 

“No!”, he said firmly and all attention was on him. “No we’re not going to run! I’m fuckin’ sick of it! We won’t let our lives be dominated by that stupid prick any longer! That asshole wants to fight? He can have it. I’ma give him the beating of his fuckin’ life and kill him, while I’m at it!” Ian gazed at him confused. “And where’s the difference between killing him with a gun and killing him with your fists? ”, he asked frowning. Mickey smiled. “Hate crime!”, he answered concisely.


	14. 14 - Made of scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every scar has a story to tell...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's a chapter with a lot of flashbacks! I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Also if you're interested to read what happened in Mexico and how Mickey came back and got back together with Ian etc. I'm planning to write this story down after I conclude the Maty chapters. So we'll have a lot of fun for a little while longer :)
> 
> As always: Thank you so much for reading, commenting and kudos-ing! I appreciate it very much :)

Anastasia had decided to stay the night since it was already pretty late and she and Mandy wanted to catch up a little. So Ian was about to make them a bed on the couch, after Anastasia had politely declined sleeping in Mickey’s and Ian’s bed. Mickey had retired to the bathroom since he needed time to get his head straight. He was standing in front of the bathroom mirror after a long shower, looking at himself.

The black eye had started to turn from a purple-blueish tone to a light green-yellow one. He couldn’t even remember how many times he had seen his face like this. But he remembered the first time. It was just after his mother had disappeared and Terry had returned from his trip. He had picked him and Mandy up at their aunt’s and brought them home. He had been out of his fucking mind mad about their mother leaving, although of course back then, he had told them that she was dead. 

When they had arrived home, he did what he had always done: Blaming everyone else but himself for the situation (and that had included Mandy and Mickey) and getting shitfaced. Surely, Mickey had known back then how to react in these kinds of situations. They did, what their mother had told them to do, when Papa was a little off. They hid somewhere until he had fallen asleep. Only this time, Mickey had underestimated how quickly his Dad would fall asleep. So as soon as he had entered the living room again to get something to eat from the kitchen for him and Mandy, his Dad had appeared behind him. The punch happened so quick he hadn’t even seen it coming and the next thing he remembered, was lying on the kitchen floor with the left side of his face throbbing in pain.

Mickey clenched his fists around the sink, so that his knuckles turned white from the grip. He was angry. And he hadn’t felt this kind of anger in a long time. It wasn’t the same anger he had felt when his mother had left. It wasn’t even the same anger, when he had gone to juvie for the first time or when he had seen Ian with another man. But it was this boiling rage inside of him that used to be a mix of admiration and fear from his father. 

He tried to breath steady, since he had started to shake in anger and looked at himself again. Looked down at his body. At the dozens of scars. Some of them were old ones from little fights he had had with his brothers or classmates or, of course, fucking Terry. Some of them were a little newer. Some from prison, when he tried to survive. One big scar on his left side, from when his spleen had ruptured during a fight in the ring, a little over a year ago and they had had to stitch him up in an emergency operation. 

The one most dear to him was covered up by a large tattoo on his chest and used to be a tattoo he had done himself with a dirty needle in prison. It was Ian’s name that he had spelled wrong and that had gotten infected pretty bad. By the time it was healed, the name had barely been visible anymore but instead had blurred into a big fat blob. When he had crossed the Mexican border and Ian had left him, again, he had just driven until there had been no more gas in his tank. The city he had ended up in, housed dozens of tattoo studios. One night, he had just gotten flat out drunk and some guy tattooed half his chest in one session to cover the thing up. He hadn’t even cared about the motif, he just wanted Ian’s name gone. The tattoo artist had really been into tattooing animals so he had picked a raven for Mickey’s chest and he had done an outstanding job, considering the fact that Mickey had bled like a stuck pig, due to his drunkenness. The black feathers covered the old blob perfectly and beside the scar tissue, there was no trace of Ian’s name ever being there in the first place.

He ran a hand over the massive tattoo on his chest. He could still feel the initial scar underneath it. He remembered the pain, the frustration and the fucking anger towards Ian at the time and then the even worse feeling of numbness and nihilism that had almost drove him to kill himself. 

But even the feelings he had had back then were nothing, compared to what he had felt towards his father. He had never felt that kind of rage towards anyone. The day he had realized that his Dad wasn’t a great man, that he had never done anything for anyone but himself, that he never took any accountability for his actions and yet tried to control everyone around him was surely one of the worst days of his life, but also one of the most liberating. 

His thoughts got interrupted by Ian, who had just come in the bathroom. “Everything alright with you? You’ve been in here forever.”, he said worriedly. Mickey turned to face him and grabbed his hips to pull him closer. “’s all good.”, he answered and looked up to kiss him, “Just thinkin’.” Ian flung his arms around his neck and looked up and down at him. “You really want to kill your Dad?”, he asked. Mickey sighed. “Kill or put him in the can for the rest of his miserable fuckin’ life!”, he replied, gripping his hips tighter, “I’m fine either way!” Ian nodded.

“Did you kill someone before?”, he asked carefully. Mickey’s eyes turned dark and Ian feared the answer to that question. He knew his fiancé was no stranger to crimes, but murder? He didn’t know. Or he didn’t really want to know before. “Doesn’t matter… “, Mickey answered, tilting his head. And that was more than enough of an answer for Ian. He wasn’t sure, how he felt about Mickey having killed someone, but he also didn’t want to know any more. Ian sighed thoughtful. 

“You’re not gettin’ weak in the knees now, are you?”, Mickey asked chuckling and Ian rested his forehead against his. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you!”, he whispered and looked into his blue eyes. Mickey smiled at him. “I’m not easy to kill and you know it!”, he tried to calm Ian down. Ian returned the smile. “Yeah… not easy to kill doesn’t mean you’re immortal though!”, he replied, “What’s the plan anyway? Do we just wait around until he makes a move or will we go after him?”

Mickey raised his eyebrows. “‘We’ are not goin’ to do anything!”, he said firmly. Ian shook his head. “Nah, I’m not lettin’ you do this alone! No fucking way!”, he emphasized pulling a little apart, but Mickey didn’t let him go. “This is not your battle, Ian… has never been!”, he sighed, gazing up at him. “Bullshit!”, Ian exclaimed, “It has been my battle since the day, he caught us on the couch together!” Mickey just shook his head slowly. “No, it’s not! And I’m not letting him hurt you anymore!” The memory of his dream from a couple of days ago suddenly appeared before his inner eye. Ian being beaten to death and the powerlessness of simply watching it was more than enough for Mickey to not let Ian anywhere near his father. 

“I don’t give a shit about pain! And you can’t stop me!”, Ian replied stubbornly. Mickey sighed and let go of his hips. Ian wasn’t going to back down, so he just had to be a step ahead. “Whatever!”, he mumbled and passed Ian, trying to leave the bathroom. Ian grabbed his arm and pulled him close again, so that they were eye to eye with each other. “Seriously, Mick!”, he insisted. Mickey grabbed the back of his head and kissed him firmly. He knew how to shut Ian up and if he hadn’t made him shut up with a kiss, Ian would’ve wanted him to promise not to go without him and Mickey just couldn’t promise that. Because he loved Ian. He loved him so much and he would, with every fiber of his being, make sure that Terry wouldn’t hurt him. That he was safe. And that they could go on with their lives as planned, not living in fear everyday.


	15. 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian is panicking when he wakes up without Mickey there, while Mickey visits the old Milkovich house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)

Mickey! 

Ian opened his eyes hastily. His heart was hammering in his chest. Something was wrong. Mickey wasn’t laying next to him anymore and he had a distinct feeling that he had left the apartment. He tried to listen closely, if there was someone in the bathroom or the kitchen. He heard a voice from outside. A chesty voice complaining about something, he couldn’t understand. It could be Terry. He was almost certain it was Terry. He got up quickly and put on his clothes.

He opened to door to the hallway. Everything was silent. Anastasia and Mandy were probably still asleep. He sneaked through the hallway, looking inside the bathroom, if someone was in there and moved forward to the kitchen and living room. Beside the two women sleeping on the couch, the apartment was empty. Mickey was gone and he was afraid that he would do something stupid. His stomach twisted at the thought of Mickey going outside to execute his plan with Terry.

The chesty voice was back, but he still couldn’t quite make out, what was being said. He tiptoed towards the balcony door, keeping his head down, so he might be able to catch a look on the voice outside. He held his breath as he took a peek through the window. Almost certain, Terry would be standing there on the empty property next to their apartment building.

Nothing. No one was out there. He sat on the floor, taking a deep breath trying to calm himself down. Did he imagine the voice? Was he so terrified of something happening to Mickey that he now imagined things? His heart rate didn’t seem to slow down and he started breathing faster again. His chest tightened, when he thought about Mickey and he closed his eyes trying to regain control over his body.

He knew he was hyperventilating and he knew he needed to stop, if he didn’t want to pass out but at the same time, he was incapable of calming himself. Panic attacks were something rare for him these days. The last time it happened was when Mickey was at the hospital, over a year ago. His meds usually helped with the paranoia but panic attacks were something else. It was almost like he was being choked by an imminent threat that hadn’t even manifested yet. Or had it? Where the fuck was Mickey? And why was he leaving without saying something or without leaving a note? Did he leave a note?

“Ian, are you okay?”, a voice to his left suddenly asked, jolting him from his thoughts. He knew the voice. It was a female voice. It was Mandy. No threat. “I think he’s having a panic attack!”, another voice remarked worriedly. He also knew that voice. It was Anastasia. He felt a touch on his shoulder. “Ian? Can you hear me?”, Mandy asked. She was very close. She sat next to him. “You need to calm your breathing for me! Can you do that?”, she continued. Where the fuck was Mickey??? His mind screamed and he began to feel dizzy. In the far distant he heard keys turning in the lock of the front door.

 

Mickey kept his eyes closed, although he was wide awake. He waited until he heard steady breathing from Ian and he was sure he had fallen asleep. He got up slowly and gathered some clothes from the floor, careful not to make a sound. He sneaked through the hallway, took his keys and was out the door.

Outside, he stood still for a second, lighting a cigarette and enjoying the early morning breeze. He knew, where he would want to go but he needed a moment to gather his thoughts. As soon as he started walking, he felt a stitch in his side from breathing too irregularly. He threw the cigarette away as a response but kept his pace up. He walked the familiar way, all through South Side. 

When he came closer to the house he grew up in, he slowed down a little. His heart was racing at the sight of the old Milkovich home. He hadn’t been here in years, but it still looked shitty as ever. The lawn was still full of garbage, the facade was crumbling and some of the windows had holes in the pane. He stood across from the house and lit himself another cigarette. It was still pretty early so surely no one was awake yet. No one was even on the streets, except for him and a stray cat that watched him eagerly through her green eyes.

He walked across the street to get closer to his former home. He jumped over the fence as silently as possible because he knew if he opened the fence door it would make a high pitched squeak that had woken him up several times as a teenager. He walked around the house and saw a garbage can underneath one of the living room windows. He took of his jacket and placed it carefully on the lid, hoping this would muffle the noise his feet would make when he stood on the can. He pulled himself up to look through the window. At first, it was hard to see through the reflection, so he held a hand above his eyes to have a closer look, keeping the other on the windowsill for balance. 

The first thing he saw was a dirty banner that was tauted in the hallway, saying ‘Welcome Home’. He wasn’t sure if it was the same from ten years ago or if his brothers or uncles had made a new one that looked just as dirty, either way he could be sure now that Terry was indeed home. He looked a little closer and saw the little kitchen in the back that was full of dirty dishes. The same old couch stood in the middle of the living room and the same rundown dressers and shelves that didn’t match the rest of the interior still collected trash, dust and mold. Looking inside, Mickey was suddenly happy that him and Ian weren’t living there anymore. He hadn’t cared, how the place looked when he was a teenager or a kid but nowadays he found himself quite happy to be living in an apartment that wasn’t in danger of collapsing any second. 

He was about to lower himself from the can, when he suddenly heard a loud noise coming from inside the house. It was almost like the growl of an animal. He pulled himself up again and looked inside, while trying to keep his head down, so nobody could see him. There was no one standing there. He pulled himself up further and finally found the source of the growling… or rather snoring. He didn’t see his face but he saw the tattoos on his massive back and arms. 

Terry was laying on the floor sleeping, an almost empty bottle of his favorite vodka next to him. Mickey held his breath, although he was certain that his Dad wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, and not at all from his breathing. His heart beat faster in his chest and a mix of rage and fear was forcing its way through his thoughts. This wasn’t the time to start a fight, he reminded himself. He lowered himself from the can again, grabbed his jacket and quickly jumped over the fence, walking back the same way he had come from. His heart was still pounding, when he stopped in his tracks, a few blocks down, to catch a breath. 

His father was really back and apparently still an alcoholic. He knew now, what to do. If Terry was really after him, he knew now to handle the situation. He just needed witnesses. Witnesses that confirmed that he had just defended himself. That it was Terry, who had thrown the first punch. Knowing his father well, he was sure that this was the easy part. The rest he just had to wait out, be patient and keep his head down.

 

When Mickey entered the apartment with a big box full of donuts, he dived into pure chaos. Ian was sitting on the floor in front of the counter, his eyes closed and breathing way too fast. His mother and sister were hovering over him, trying to calm him down. He knew at first sight what had happened and was with a few quick steps next to Ian. He got on his knees and pulled him close, whispering soothing words in his ear. “Ian, I’m here! Please, calm down! Everything’s fine!” 

Ian’s breathing began to slow down a little, when he heard Mickey’s voice. After a while he opened his eyes and stared unbelievingly at Mickey. 

“Where... the fuck… were you?”, he exclaimed, still breathless, “I… I thought… you… !” Mickey pointed at the box next to him. “Got us some breakfast!”, he tried to explain calmly. Ian rested his head at the counter. He looked and felt like he had just ran a marathon. Mickey was still holding him tightly. “Don’t ever fuckin’ leave without telling me!”, Ian demanded, when his breathing had slowed down. Mickey smirked. That was the exact fucking reason, he had not told Ian about his plans. Because Ian would panic or Ian would want to come along and he couldn’t have that this time. 

“I’ma make some coffee!”, Anastasia said and stood up. Mandy still sat next to them, gazing at Ian worriedly. Mickey gave her a look that she should leave and not make this any more awkward for Ian than it already was. She stood up with a sigh, grabbing the donut box next to him and joining her mother in preparing breakfast. 

“Now let’s get you into the shower, get some fresh clothes.”, Mickey suggested but Ian made no move to stand up. Instead he held on to Mickey a little tighter. “I mean it, Mick!”, he said quietly, so only Mickey could hear him, “Don’t ever fuckin’ leave!” Mickey nodded stroking his back. “I won’t!”, he replied, pressing a kiss on his head.


	16. 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian's worse and Mickey is meeting Kev.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha I made it! Uploaded two chapters in a day! Yay!  
> Check out my other work I started and uploaded the first chapter today. It's called 'Home is Where the Heart is' and it deals with how Mickey came back and how he found his way back to Ian. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Thank you for reading! It's showdown soon!

Mickey had called in sick for Ian that day, because he wasn’t able to get out of bed. Of course, these things had happened before, whenever there’s too much stress involved and he had it coming for a while now. Nevertheless, it was always hard on Mickey to see him like that. It was exhausting, too. Ian couldn’t do anything and everything was up to him. Making the decision, when to get him hospitalized, was always the toughest. Sometimes he just needed to rest for a couple of days. Other times it just got worse and worse until Mickey pulled the plug. 

He didn’t know yet, what it was going to be, but he guessed that it would get worse this time. At least Mandy was still here to help him out. Fiona and the rest of the Gallaghers had also offered their help and took turns in visiting him. Jerry had come by once or twice to talk to Ian and balance out his meds together with Anastasia, who had been generally concerned about him, after she had witnessed his panic attack the other day.

Mickey had all the help he needed to take care of Ian and he was also finally able to execute his plan of bringing his father down. He had set up a meeting with Kev for today. He needed to fill him in on this and he might also needed his help. After all, Kev was one of the few guys he could trust. Even though their business arrangement used to be a little shaky and they ended up on each other’s throats more than once, he thought of Kev as a friend.

 

Mickey was sitting upright in their bed, having one arm around a sleeping Ian, who had snug up to his leg. In the other hand he held his phone, so he could reschedule some of his clients, when suddenly someone knocked at the door and then entered. It was Fiona. She had a concerned smile on her face. “Hey!”, she greeted him quietly, “How’s he doing?” He tilted his head from one side to the other, which made her concerned look even worse. He slowly shifted Ian from him and stood up to talk to her outside.

“No change!”, he replied to her question, when he had closed the bedroom door behind him. Mandy had gotten out apartment hunting, so they were alone in the living room. “You think this thing will fix itself?”, she asked worriedly. “I don’t know… probably not.”, he sighed. She nodded. “Any news on your Dad?”, she asked again, “Kev mentioned, he was at the Alibi the other day!” Mickey shook his head, but was pleased to hear that his Dad was still a regular there. “No haven’t heard anything… and am quite happy about it!”, he remarked, offering her a bear, which she gladly took. “Does he know about your Mom?”, she continued. Mickey shrugged. He had no time for the Gallagher question/answer game. “Don’t know, don’t care… listen I gotta go… fix something with a client… are you alright here by yourself?”, he changed the subject. She just smiled in return. “All good! I’ll stay until you or Mandy return!”, she answered happily. He nodded a thank you and quickly made his way out the door.

 

He ran a little late, when he knocked on the door of the Ball/Fisher household but as usual Kev surely wouldn’t mind. A young black girl opened, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. Was it Gemma or Amy? He always forgot who’s who. “Hey, your Daddy home?”, he asked carefully. She nodded, but made no attempt to get him. Mickey raised his eyebrows at her. “Can you get him for me?”, he asked slowly. The girl nodded again and turned her head slightly. “DAAADDYYYYY…“, she yelled and Mickey actually flinched a little. A few seconds later Kev strolled to the door. 

“Hey man, how’s it goin’?”, he asked smiling and let him inside. “Good, you?”, Mickey replied, entering the house. “Everythin’ alright with Ian?”, Kev asked concernedly, “Fi said he’s havin’ a down phase again… hasn’t happened in quite a while.” Mickey nodded and they sat down on the couch. “Yeah, yeah I know that’s one of the reasons I’m here, I need your help!” Kev raised his eyebrows in surprise. “My help?”, he asked disbelievingly. Mickey nodded again. “Terry’s been at the Alibi lately?”, he asked, already knowing the answer. It suddenly dawned on Kev where this was going. 

“Oh shit man… you don’t ask me to kill him with you, do you?”, he asked fearfully, while holding his breath. Mickey frowned at him. As if he would ask such a thing of him. “No, dumbass.”, Mickey snorted, “I want you to be a fuckin’ witness!” Kev sighed relieved. “Alright, no problem… witness for what?”, he asked clearly more relaxed than before. “That he threw the first punch. No matter what will happen after!”, Mickey answered calmly. Kev looked at him irritated. “Is this goin’ to be another Milkovich bar brawl? Can’t you do that shit somewhere else, Mickey? Last time a whole fuckin’ chairs and tables broke. I have daughters, man! This shit is expensive!”, Kev moaned and Mickey rolled his eyes. “Listen, man! This shit will happen eventually… and I want to settle it once and for all! Can you just do this for me?” Kevin sighed again, running a hand over his shaved head. “I’ll pay you back, whatever breaks, alright?”, Mickey offered and Kev seemed to ease a little. “Jeez, you really wanna beat each other up again? Terry’s such a homophobe, he’ll try and tear you a new one, as soon as he sees you!”, Kev pointed out and Mickey could literally watch him put the pieces together in his head. “Ah fuck! That’s what you want, right?”, he exclaimed, “So, he’ll violate his parole, again?” Mickey nodded. “You just need to testify that he threw the first punch.”, he repeated calmly. 

“I wouldn’t even have to lie… He beat the shit out of regular a few days ago just because he mentioned you. The guy’s nuts through and through!”, Kev replied thoughtfully. Mickey chuckled. “Yeah, try growin’ up with him!”, he said, looking down at the tattoos on his hands. Kev snorted. “Nah, man! My own shitty childhood was enough for me!”, Kev returned the chuckle, “Are you sure about that shit, though? What if something goes wrong? I don’t wanna be the one to explain to Ian, what happened! He’ll go batshit crazy on all of us!”

“That’s why you tell no one! It can’t look like a set-up!”, Mickey replied firmly. Kev shook his head. “You didn’t tell Ian?”, he asked worriedly. “He wouldn’t let me do it!”, Mickey answered. Kev leaned back on the couch, clearly not happy with it all. “Oh man…”, he sighed. Mickey stood up, looking straight at him. “When he’s at the Alibi, next time you’re there, you give me a call. We’ll get this out of our systems and you call the cops as soon as he throws a punch. You tell them afterwards that he attacked me first! Got it?”, he explained to him as clearly as possible. Kev nodded absentmindedly. “Can I count on you?”, Mickey asked with raised eyebrows. Kev gazed back at him and nodded again. “Sure, man… anytime! As long as you pay for the damage!”, he grinned at him, standing up himself and walked him to the door. They said their goodbyes and Mickey walked back home in the cool spring air, chain smoking half his pack of cigarettes. Now he just needed to wait.


	17. 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian finds out about Mickey's plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay another chapter! Sorry for not uploading yesterday but sometimes life gets in the way ;) Hope you're happy with this one! We're close... just a few more :)
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Mickey had been on edge all day. He had forgotten his phone at home, when he had gone to work and the thought of Kev calling, while he was stuck there left him uneasy. Tory must’ve noticed that he was upset since she offered to take his last client, so he could go home early. She probably thought it was because of Ian but that was more than okay for him. Nobody knew about his Dad besides the ones close to him and nobody else really needed to know.

When he got home, he was greeted by Mandy, sitting on the couch, staring at her Laptop again. “Hey!”, he said, throwing his keys and wallet on the counter. She looked up. “Hey, assface! You forgot your fuckin’ phone!”, she said to him, ever so friendly. He nodded and flipped her off, which she returned with a fake smile. “Any change?”, he asked concisely. She tilted her head. “I think he’s slowly doin’ better! I got him to eat a little today, but he still doesn’t talk much and sleeps a lot.” Mickey nodded again and made his way towards the bedroom, hoping that Kev hadn’t called yet.

He opened the door slowly and saw that Ian sat up straight in their bed, which had been a rare look the past couple of days. A smile spread quickly on his face and he closed the door behind him. Maybe he was better. “Hey!”, Mickey greeted him happily, “You feelin’ better?” Ian looked up at him with tired sad eyes and Mickey suddenly noticed his phone in Ian’s hands. “Kev called.”, Ian replied quietly. Of course he had. Mickey froze in his step, not really knowing what to do. “I don’t know what you’ve planned behind my back but I don’t like it.”, Ian continued, “I don’t like it one bit!” Mickey approached Ian slowly and sat next to him on the bed. “I… what did Kev say?”, he stuttered but Ian cut him off. “You wanted to go after Terry alone… That’s such a stupid idea!” Kev that fucking snitch. “Ian, you were on board with the whole ‘hate crime’ thing…”, Mickey answered calmly and Ian threw the phone at him. “Yeah, well, why the fuck did you lie to me then?”, Ian snapped. “I never lied to you!”, Mickey emphasized. “Lying… not telling about it… where’s the fuckin’ difference really?”, Ian replied irritated. Mickey sighed, pressing the heels of his hands in his eyes. “Ian, you don’t understand!”, he said, turning to face him. Ian looked pissed and Mickey knew deep down that Ian probably had a point. “I do fuckin’ understand that you think you have to do this yourself!”, Ian replied a little calmer, “But I told you before that I don’t want you to do this alone! It’s crazy!”

Mickey sighed again, looking at his phone. “Is Terry at the Alibi now?”, he asked, ignoring Ian’s worries. Ian snorted. “Ian, fuck… I have a plan and we won’t have to worry about that shit anymore!”, Mickey continued impatiently. Ian rolled his eyes. “That’s not the point! I wanna see him dead as much as you do!”, he replied, “I’m pissed because you fuckin’ sneaked around! You treat me like I’m a child again! You don’t think I can handle the stress! You decide everything and you never talk to me about it!” It was Mickey’s turn to roll his eyes. “And can you fuckin’ blame me for it?”, he replied annoyed, “Whenever there’s turmoil in our lives it’s too much for you to handle! I can’t really lean on you, because you can barely hold yourself up! That’s why I decide every fuckin’ thing for us, because it’s just too much for you!” Ian gazed at him like he had just punched him in the face and Mickey immediately regretted his words. “Fuck… that came out wrong!”, he said quickly but Ian still looked hurt. He crawled on the bed closer to Ian and took his head in his hands. “Listen… I don’t mind this stuff, okay? You’re not a burden to me or anything. The only reason I fuckin’ leave you out sometimes, is that I don’t want you to get worse again. I want you to be happy and I don’t want to worry about you all the time!”, he tried to sooth him. Ian looked up at him teary-eyed. “Please stop that! Don’t act like I can’t handle anything, like I can’t handle what concerns you!”, he whispered hurt, “Let me decide! Don’t do it for me!” Mickey let go of his head and sat down in front of him. 

“We could just take Anastasia’s offer and hide for a while, you know… “, Ian continued. Mickey snorted in response. “Or I could just settle that shit today!”, he replied, looking out the window. “I can’t come with you right now… “, Ian said thoughtfully. Mickey shook his head slowly. “I don’t want you to!” “What is it with you and keeping me apart from facing Terry?”, Ian asked irritated. Mickey leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t want you to get hurt… “, he responded slowly. “Great! I don’t want you to get hurt either that’s why I don’t want you to go alone! See my point, now?”, Ian replied and Mickey sighed in return. “I had that weird dream a couple of days ago… It was like a flashback from when Terry caught us on the couch, only this time he beat you to death and I couldn’t do anything about it… “, he explained, still staring at the ceiling. “So what? It was just a dream! I can take a few hits! I’m not as weak as I probably look right now!”, Ian replied. “You don’t understand… Call it fuckin’ superstition but I can’t let you near him. I won’t!”, Mickey said firmly. Ian ran a hand through his tousled hair and sighed. 

Mickey’s phone buzzed and he held it in front of his face. It was Kev again. He gazed over at Ian, who gave him a look that didn’t approve him taking the call, so he threw the phone back on the bed and let the call go to voicemail. “So... what? We’re goin’ to wait until he’s at our doorstep?”, Mickey asked, turning his head slightly to look at Ian, “The only reason you’ve been in this bed for the past couple of days, was that it stressed you out too much that this would happen. It’s what caused your panic attack!” Ian scratched the back of his head. “Give me a day or two and we’ll decide what to do, okay?”, he suggested tiredly, “I’m feelin’ a lot better! I just need to rest for a little bit!” 

Mickey closed his eyes to think. He could just go. Ian couldn’t stop him but then again would he want to risk Ian being mad at him? Would he want to risk their relationship in his search for vengeance? He rubbed his eyes. Relationships complicated things like that immensely and that bugged him, but he also loved being in a relationship with Ian, so he assumed he had to play by the rules. Maybe, if Ian promised to stay back, he could come along. Maybe, it would be good having him there, just in case. He knew Ian wasn’t a bad fighter and he still knew a lot of those army moves, they had taught him at ROTC… But it was Ian. His Ian. 

“You know that I’ll kick your ass, if you go alone!”, Ian said calmly. Mickey chuckled. “Where’s the difference? You kick my ass everyday!”, he replied, smiling at him. Looking at him like that, he knew one thing for sure: No, he couldn’t come along, not this time. Ian returned the smile, laying his head on Mickey’s chest. Mickey put his arms around him protectively. They lay like that for a while until they got interrupted by the doorbell. 

Mickey quickly stood up, making his way to the front door. Mandy stared at him questioningly, when he entered the living room. He just shrugged, grabbed the gun, he had hid on top of a shelf in the kitchen and moved to the door. He looked carefully through the peephole. Outside were two cops waiting for the door to be opened. Something felt off, but he laid the gun on the ground quickly and pushed it in direction of the sofa. As soon as it had disappeared under it, he opened the door. 

“Yes?”, he asked, looking at the two cops confusedly. “Mr. Milkovich?”, one of the cops asked. “Yes?”, Mickey repeated insecurely. Behind him, he heard Ian slowly coming towards them to see what’s up. “Is Terrence Milkovich your father?”, the other cop asked and Mickey nodded. “Follow us, please!”, the first cop demanded, leaving Mickey even more confused. “Am I under arrest?”, Mickey asked, feeling his heart pounding fastly in his chest. He felt Ian’s grip on his shoulder to calm him down. “No, Sir. We just need you to come to the station with us!”, the other cop replied. Mickey turned to Ian, who just shrugged. “Fine, give me a second!”, he answered and quickly grabbed his keys and wallet from the counter. Mandy still looked at him quizzically but he ignored her. He followed the two cops silently as they made their way to the police station.


	18. 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anastasia gets a mysterious call and Mickey is being questioned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadaaaaa... I hope you like it! Tell me what you think of the new chapter! I'm curious!
> 
> Thank you for reading :)

Anastasia was cutting vegetables in her kitchen for dinner, when Darya suddenly appeared next to her. “When will we see Mickey and Yevi and Ian again, Mama?”, she asked in her sweet little voice. Anastasia smiled at her, while putting the slices in a hot pan. “Soon sweety! They are busy right now, but we’ll meet with them soon!”, she answered in her motherly fashion. “But you went to see them last week… why couldn’t I come with you?”, Darya continued, stirring the vegetables around in the pan with a spatula, while Anastasia checked on the meatloaf in the oven. “Because Ian was sick and Yevi wasn’t there. I only helped out your brother a little bit. It would have been boring for you!”, Anastasia responded, stroking her hair, before she took the spatula from her hand. “Why doesn’t Yevi live with Mickey and Ian?”, Darya asked again. “Because Yevi lives with his Mama.”, Anastasia replied softly. 

Darya seemed to be unsatisfied with that answer but Anastasia had other things in her head, things that made her insides churn. She had waited desperately for a call all day. A call that would assure her that everything was fine again. She had been worried sick about her children and their family in Chicago. She just had to do something. And she had done something. Something dark. That would protect her family.

She took the face of her youngest daughter in her hands and smiled at her. “Why don’t you set the table? Dinner’s ready soon!”, she said caring. Darya nodded and ran to the dining room. She turned around to the stove again and turned the vegetables in the pan. Soon she felt the warm hands of her husband on her shoulders. “Smells delicious, honey!”, he remarked, kissing her on the cheek. She was about to turn around to him, when she felt the buzzing of her phone in her apron pocket. Finally! 

“Can you stay here for a second and watch the vegetables? I gotta go to the bathroom!”, she said, quickly kissing him on the cheek as well. He nodded and she walked through the hallway, to the little guest bathroom. As soon as she had closed the door behind her, she pulled out the small prepaid phone from her apron and took the call. She held the phone to her ear without speaking. “It’s done!”, a chesty voice on the other end said. She sighed in relieve. It was over. “Did you place it, where we agreed?”, the voice asked. “Yes.”, she quickly replied, “Thank you!” She heard a noise that told her that the caller had disconnected. Her knees gave in and she sank to the bathroom floor. She started crying quietly. Relieve filled her insides and a smile suddenly spread on her face. The weight of almost thirty years of terror was finally off of her shoulders. It was over. It was finally over.

When she heard her husband calling from the kitchen, she quickly wiped her tears away and splashed a bit of water in her face, hoping that her family wouldn’t notice her emotional outburst. Satisfied with her look, she left the bathroom again. Assured that everything was fine now. It was over. Peace was restored.

 

Mickey was pissed. More than that, he was impatient. The cops had left him in a small room waiting for over an hour now. He was pretty sure by now that he was brought in for an interrogation. Something about Terry. Maybe he had screwed up and they thought he had been a part of it? Maybe they thought he was a witness to something Terry had done? He didn’t know, but he sure as hell felt uneasy about the situation. That feeling that something was off had stuck with him, since he had left with the cops. 

Was it possible that Kev had snitched on him to the cops? Another attempted murder charge? But they told him that he wasn’t under arrest, although it very much felt like it. He didn’t trust these cops one bit but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He would just have to wait it out, until someone bothered to fill him in.

The door finally opened and two men in brown suits came in and sat down across from him. Judging by their looks, they were probably detectives. Mickey was sure they were about to start the good cop/bad cop game now and he already hated them for it. At least he hadn’t been in contact with Terry in any way, since he got out, so this whole thing should be over soon. At least that’s what he hoped.

“Sorry, we left you waiting Mr. Milkovich.”, the left one with the bald head said, “I’m Detective Mason, this is Detective Sullivan.” Sullivan nodded in his direction and Mickey returned the nod silently. He knew it was best not to ask too many questions because everything he said, they would try and use against him. 

“Can you tell us where you’ve been today?”, Sullivan asked with a deep chain-smoker voice. “Work, then at home, then here.”, Mickey responded shortly. Sullivan made some notes. “Can you tell us the exact time you spent at these places?”, he continued. Mickey tilted his head. “Started work at 8 am, got home at around 4 pm and your cheerful little helpers picked me up at around 7 pm. I have probably been sitting in this shithole since 7.30 pm.”, he answered truthfully. Sullivan nodded and noted down some stuff again, while Mason just watched him eagerly. “Can someone confirm that?”, Mason asked. Mickey nodded. “At least five clients and my boss can confirm that I was indeed at work and my partner can confirm I was at home.” Sullivan nodded in response, took notes again and Mason continued to pester him with his gaze. “When have you last seen your father?”, Sullivan asked calmly. Mickey raised his eyebrows in annoyance and sighed. “About nine years ago, when you guys shipped him off to prison again.”, he replied, crossing his arms in front of him. Notes notes notes. 

“How would you describe your relationship with your father?”, Sullivan continued. Mickey ran a hand over his face. He knew what they were up to and he was sure, they already knew all the answers he gave them, they just needed confirmation. But for what? “Hostile or rather non-existent.”, he answered, feeling Mason’s look on his skin, watching his every move. “Why hostile or non-existent?”, Sullivan asked again. “Hostile because he fuckin’ hates my guts and non-existent because I haven’t seen him in the past nine years!”

Mason grinned. “And why does your father hate you Mr. Milkovich?”, he asked, still pestering. Mickey hated that guy. Hated them both for their stupid questions but what he hated most was, that he still didn’t know why they asked him all this shit. “He’s a homophobe and he doesn’t agree with my choice of partner, but I guess you already knew all that shit… so why don’t you fuckin’ tell me why the fuck I’m here?”, he snapped at them. Mason folded his hands in front of him and gazed at Mickey in silence again. 

Sullivan cleared his throat and scribbled down some notes, before he answered: “Your father was found dead behind the Alibi Room a few hours ago. We’re just looking to see if you happen to know anything about that or could point us in a direction to who could’ve done it.” They both watched him thoroughly, when they told him the news. Mickey couldn’t believe it. He wanted to kill his father today. He wanted to do it. Who else could have had such a plan? The question was probably redundant since Terry had more enemies than friends, but still. Who had had a reason to go that far besides him? 

He blinked his eyes, looking down at the table in front of him. “How?”, he asked absentmindedly. Sullivan took notes again, then answered: “Bullet to the head.” Mickey shook his head. Was this all a dream? Was he really sitting there at the police station, answering all these fucking questions with Terry lying in a morgue somewhere? Just a few hours ago Kev had called him that Terry was at the Alibi, that he could execute his plan and now he was dead?

“Who found him?”, he asked suddenly, looking up at Sullivan again. “The owner, a Mr. Kevin Ball.”, Sullivan replied, “He tried to call you but couldn’t reach you, is that correct?” Mickey nodded. “Didn’t hear my phone.”, he responded shortly. “Do you have any idea, who could have a motive of killing your father?”, Sullivan asked again. Mickey shook his head. “Could be anyone…“, he sighed and even if he knew, he wouldn’t tell them. He would thank the guy, who had put Terry fucking Milkovich out of his goddamn misery. 

Sullivan turned his head to face Mason and they shared a quick look. Mason coughed. “We’re checking your alibi then you’re free to go.”, he grunted, obviously not amused that he couldn’t pin Mickey down. The two men stood up and left him alone again. Mickey stared at the table in front of him, while he waited to be released. What the fuck had just happened? He slowly began to realize that Terry was dead. He was actually dead. A smile flashed across his face, as he started to realize what the two detectives had told him. He threw his head back and laughed quietly. Relieve filled him and he couldn’t wait to tell Ian. Tell Mandy and Anastasia. Everything was fine again. The weight of over twenty years of terror were off of his shoulders. It was over. Peace was restored.


	19. 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey is being released and Kev drives him home. He fills in Mandy and Ian and Mandy gets to see Yevgeny again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I'm on vacation right now and I will be for the next two weeks. I'm uploading this chapter now but I don't know when I'll be able to upload the next because I don't know when I will have Internet again or even the time to write. Please be patient with me :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading :)

It had been two hours since Sullivan and Mason had left him in the little interrogation room until finally a young woman in uniform came to tell Mickey, he was free to go. He exited the station and breathed in deeply before he let his eyes drift over the parking lot. They had told him inside that someone was waiting for him to take him home. His eyes set on a tall guy leaning on an old rusty pick-up truck. It was Kev. 

He waved at Mickey when he saw him and he started walking towards him. Kev greeted him with a tight hug. “Oh man! It’s so good to see you!”, Kev sighed in his shoulder. Mickey patted his back in return and he let go of him. “They interrogated me for hours in there! How was it for you?”, Kev asked, looking fairly exhausted. Mickey had always known that Kev was a big softy. Sure, he was intimidating as fuck due his height and muscles but once you got to know him, there wasn’t much to be scared about. Mickey shrugged and pulled out a cigarette for himself, offering one to Kev as well, who gladly took it. 

“So you found Terry?”, Mickey asked, lighting their cigarettes. Kev went pale. He took a deep drag and nodded. “Can’t get those pictures outta my head, man… You don’t happen to have anything to do with it, though?”, he asked anxiously, watching Mickey’s every move. When he shook his head, Kev let out a relieved sigh. “Nah man… just as surprised as you are.”, he replied and took a pull on his cigarette. Kev looked up at the night sky and sighed heavily. “Man, you wouldn’t wanna see this… it was a blood bath! I’ve never seen so much blood in my life!”, he gasped, “Any idea who could’ve done such a thing?” Mickey shook his head again. 

“No fuckin’ clue… Listen man, you didn’t tell anyone about our little plan, did you?”, he asked calmly. Kev gazed at him and played with the cigarette in his hand. “No… no I haven’t told anyone… except Ian but that was a misunderstanding… when he picked up I thought he was you and I just blabbered on and… I’m sorry man I hope I didn’t get you in trouble or anything!”, he stuttered worriedly. Mickey waved a hand to stop him. “Don’t sweat it… I guess it was karma or some shit that I wasn’t at the Alibi when Terry got shot… almost got to thank you for screwing up!”, he chuckled, “Now can you drive me home?” Kev nodded and threw away his cigarette, before opening the truck door. They drove to Mickey’s and Ian’s apartment in silence. 

All the way back, Mickey stared out the window absentmindedly, recalling every moment of the past few hours. Recalling the fight he had had with Ian. What a fucking coincidence this whole thing was. “You know… If you still wanna celebrate your wedding at the Alibi I’m all for it!”, Kev suddenly said, when he pulled up in front of the apartment building. Mickey gazed at him confused. That was the last thing he could think about right now, but Kev probably just needed to talk about something normal before he went home. “Yeah… I’ll talk to Ian and we’ll get back at ya!”, he replied, opened the car door and jumped out, “Thanks for the ride!” Kev nodded, before he drove off again.

 

When Mickey opened the apartment door, he found a nervous Mandy walking around the small living room. Ian was laying on the couch fast asleep. He looked so exhausted and weak lying like this and Mickey realized, he must’ve been worried sick. He gazed at him fondly, hoping the news of his father’s death would bring a little more peace to their lives now. 

When Mandy saw him she walked straight towards him and fell around his neck. “Thank god! Are you alright?”, she mumbled in his shoulder. He wasn’t really used to that much affection from her but she seemed to be very concerned so he returned the hug. “Yeah… um did anyone talk to you guys, yet?”, he asked carefully. She shook her head immediately. “No, I mean... there were some cops asking Ian where you’ve been all afternoon but no one told us anything… what was this all about? Terry locked up again?”, she asked, crossing her arms in front of her. “No… he was found dead behind the Alibi this afternoon. Bullet to the head. They brought me in for questioning, thinking I had something to do with it.”, he answered calmly, hoping his sister would take the news well. 

Her mouth fell open and she stared at him disbelievingly. “Did… Did you have something to do with it?”, she asked, her eyes filling with tears. He shook his head in response. “No, I wanted to do it myself but somebody beat me to it… no idea who, though.” She sighed and tears started falling down her cheeks. “It’s over!”, she whispered, closing her eyes and he couldn’t help but hug her again. When they pulled apart Mickey’s gaze fell back on Ian. 

“Was he worried much?”, he asked concerned. Mandy brushed her tears away and nodded. “Yeah, but he was too exhausted so he fell asleep… glad he did! Think it was better that way!”, she replied, “God damn it! Those fuckin’ hormones!” She laid her face in her hands and started sobbing quietly. Mickey sat next to Ian on the couch, gently stroking his head. Ian murmured something and opened his eyes weakly. He stared at Mickey for a second before he quickly sat up, flinging his arms around his neck just like Mandy before him. 

Mickey returned the hug and buried his head in Ian’s neck, breathing in his smell. He smelled so damn good. He had missed it so much and he was glad he could finally enjoy it again. They sat like this for a while before he finally told him what had happened that afternoon.

Just like Mandy and Kev, Ian let out a relieved sigh, when he was finished. He grabbed Mickey’s hand and ran a thumb over his tattooed knuckles. “You okay?”, he asked quietly. Mickey nodded, staring down at their hands. “Yeah… I’m good!”, he replied, smiling. Ian turned to Mandy, who still stood there, sobbing in her hands. “Mands?”, he said and she was startled to hear her name. She looked at him with big blue tear-stained eyes and let her hands fall to her side. “I’m fine dickface! I just… It’s the stupid hormones!”, she snapped and wiped her tears away angrily, “Shall we call Mama? Let her know?” Mickey nodded. “Yeah tomorrow, though. It’s pretty fuckin’ late already!”, he replied, leaning back against the couch, stroking Ian’s leg. 

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the quiet. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt settled. He felt safe. And the voices in his head had calmed down. There was no threat anymore. Nothing, he couldn’t handle. It would all be alright now. Everything would be alright.

 

Today, they were all going to drive to Carbondale to visit Anastasia and her family for the weekend. Ian had recovered mostly from the past weeks and was finally up for the trip. It was also the first time Mandy would meet Yevgeny, since she came back. 

It was only eight, yet, Mandy looked at herself in the mirror nervously and tried to fix her hair for the millionth time today. “You think he’s goin’ to remember me?”, she asked Ian, when he passed the bathroom. “Highly unlikely… he was just a baby, when you left!”, Ian replied, stopping in his tracks in front of the bathroom. She turned to him with an irritated look. “Don’t worry about it too much! It’s goin’ to be fine! He’s nine! Nine-year-olds like everyone!”, he tried to assure her with a sappy smile. She flipped him off in response. “Fuckin’ father of the year’s talkin’ now!”, she snorted and turned to the mirror again. Ian chuckled. “Mickey’s goin’ to be here with him any minute now, you better get ready!”, he said, leaving her alone in her nervousness. She heard the key in the door lock and quickly pulled her hair in a different direction for the last time, before she went to the hallway to meet her nephew. 

Yevgeny stood in the hallway with his little Ninja Turtle backpack, looking at Ian’s photo wall that had a couple of new ones now. “Hey buddy!”, Ian greeted him, when he passed Mandy and gave him a tight hug. “Are we goin’ to take some photos today?”, Yevgeny asked him with a smile brighter than the sun. “Sure! We can take the camera!”, Ian replied and rumpled his hair. Mickey groaned appearing behind them. “Shoot me now!”, he mumbled, walking to the kitchen. Yevgeny laughed and Ian winked at him. “Later!”, he said chuckling.

Mandy stood still glued to the spot in the hallway and watched the happy little family. The little boy only a couple of feet away from her, reminded her so much of her brother, there was no doubt he was his. She made a couple of insecure steps towards him, before he noticed her. “Who’s this?”, he asked his Dad. Ian stepped behind him resting a hand on his chest. “That’s your aunt Mandy!”, Ian answered for Mickey, who was busy being grumpy and making coffee. Mandy smiled awkwardly. “Hey!”, she waved at him, “You’ve grown a lot! When I last saw you, you were still a baby!” Yevgeny looked up at Ian. “I have another aunt?”, he asked confused. Ian nodded. “Yeah, and a good one, too! She took care of you a lot, when you were little!” 

Mandy made another few steps forward and got down in front of Yevgeny to be eye to eye with him. The little boy stared back at her and a smile started to spread on his face. “So cool!”, he replied, what seemed his response to everything these days. She smiled back at him and he stretched out a hand to her, politely. When she tried to take it, he pulled it away quickly. “Too slow!”, he giggled and ran, behind his dad, hiding. Mandy laughed and she felt tears of joy building up in her eyes again. Ian patted her shoulder with a warm ‘I-told-you-so’ smirk on his face. 

Mickey drank his coffee, barely realizing what was going on. He had had to get up at six to pick Yevgeny up at Svetlana’s place. “It’s too fuckin’ early!”, he grunted tiredly, when his son began to poke him with his little fingers. He finally looked down at him. “Mandy your sister?”, he asked with curious blue eyes. Mickey nodded. “How many sisters and brothers do you have?”, he asked again. Mickey shrugged. Yevgeny poked him again. “She comin’ with us to see grandma?” Mickey sighed and put his mug down. “Yeah, now go bug her instead of me!”, he replied and shoved his son in Mandy’s direction. 

Yevgeny began to giggle again, running back to the photo wall to see if he had missed a new photo. He pinched Mandy’s shirt, looking up at her expectantly. “Why aren’t you on this wall?”, he asked without letting her go. Ian’s face suddenly lit up. “I’ll get the camera!”, he said, moving towards the living room. Mandy smiled down at him. “Wanna take a photo with me?”, she asked. He nodded and her heart leaped for joy. Ian came back with a Polaroid camera in his hands. “Mick, you wanna join?”, he asked, already knowing the answer. Mickey grunted in response and made his way to the balcony to have a smoke. 

Mandy kneeled down next to Yevgeny and he flung an arm around her shoulder, so she did the same to pose for the photo. Ian took their picture and hung it up on the wall. As soon as it was visible Mandy looked at it, smiling happily. The day could only get better.

 

On the long drive to Carbondale, Mickey remained mostly silent, thinking about the weird phone conversation, he had had with Anastasia the other day. He had a strange feeling in his gut. It had all been too weird. He couldn’t point his finger on it, but he knew there was something cooking. The morning he had called Anastasia to tell her about his father’s death, she hadn’t seemed the least bit surprised and she hadn’t asked any follow-up questions whether he had had anything to do with it, like everyone else had. She had changed the subject as soon as he had told her. At first, he didn’t give it too much thought, assuming that she just didn’t want to talk about it, but there was something that didn’t let go of him. Like a foreboding.

He just couldn’t shake the feeling that Anastasia had already known about Terry’s death, when he had called her. On the one hand, he was almost certain that Anastasia couldn’t have done such a thing herself, and neither could Jerry. They were both way too nice people to be capable of murder. On the other hand, they seemed like they had enough money to afford a hitman if they needed one. Mickey just wasn’t sure if his mother had gone that far. 

She had never talked much about Terry in front of him, except the explanation on why she had left and her reaction on what Mickey had told her about him. He didn’t know how far her hatred for him went. He didn’t know if she was that coldblooded when it came to him. Then again, she had never said a good word about him and, as far as Mickey could tell, Terry had never been good to her either. He himself wouldn’t have hesitated, if he had had the chance of murdering him, that was for sure. But sweet Anastasia? He didn’t know, but he would sure as hell get to the bottom of it.


	20. In the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anastasia comes clean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is going to be the last of the 'Maty' chapters, for now. I know you probably still wanna read about some things like Mandy's baby, the wedding etc. but I will write about these in another work that will be part of this series. 'Maty' focused mainly on the relationship between Mickey and his mother and I feel like that's done now. Anastasia and her family will definitely reappear in other works though. 
> 
> However, if you still feel I left something unresolved with Anastasia let me know in the comments! I don't have anyone reading these chapters before I upload them and the story is all in my head, so if I missed something or left something unclear, let me know!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing these chapters! I'll focus on the next part of 'the road less traveled' series now, called 'home is where the heart is', which is set two years before 'Maty'. There are already two chapter uploaded so check it out if you haven't yet.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading :)

After they had arrived, the group soon scattered around the house. Oleksiy and Yevgeny shared a room for the weekend and so did Darya and Mandy. Ian and Mickey got the guest room. Mandy was thrilled to meet her half-siblings and quickly bonded with Darya over girl’s stuff. 

Mickey hadn’t had the time to catch Anastasia alone yet, but he hoped that she was up for a smoke later after the barbecue they had planned for the night. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn’t realize, Ian was watching him from the bed of their room. 

“What’s goin’ on with you, lately?”, he asked all of a sudden. Mickey looked at him startled. “What? What do ya mean?”, he asked in return, feeling slightly caught. Ian smiled at him. “You’ve been acting weird all week… since Terry’s death. Are you alright? I mean you’re awfully quiet and if you say somethin’ you just snap at everyone.”, Ian explained calmly, trying not to piss him off. 

Mickey shrugged. “I dunno.”, he replied shortly. Ian stood up from the bed and walked over to him. He took Mickey’s head into his hands and forced him to look him in the eyes. “You know you can talk to me, right? If Terry’s death shook you up or anythin’… “ Mickey scowled at him and pulled away from his touch. “I don’t give a flyin’ fuck about Terry’s death!”, he exclaimed, “I’m happy the fucker’s dead! Feel like I should throw a fuckin’ party… “ 

Ian crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Then what is it? You sure as hell don’t seem happy!”, he replied, still trying to keep his calm. Mickey looked away. He didn’t want to tell Ian about his suspicions. This was something he needed to deal with alone. When he got to the bottom of it, he would let Ian know. But not yet. Not out of some dumb gut feeling.

“It’s… It’s nothin’!”, he sighed a little calmer. Ian frowned at him. “You’re doin’ it again!”, he said irritated, “You’re up to something and you shut me out again!” Mickey shook his head eagerly. “I’m not shutting you out!”, he emphasized, “I just.. I don’t--” “Oh, shut up!”, Ian interrupted him, “Stop with the bullshit! Who do you think you’re talkin’ to? I fuckin’ know you better than anyone! You can’t fool me!”

Mickey scratched the back of his head awkwardly, seemingly annoyed of Ian’s outburst. “I’ll let you know, when I know… “, he said trying not to snap at Ian again. “Know about what?”, Ian pushed, walking towards him again. Mickey rolled his eyes. “Jesus, fuck! I don’t have to tell you everything that’s goin’ on in my head… you don’t either!”, he sighed, running a hand over his face. Ian closed the space between them, pressing Mickey against the wall. 

“I’m allowed to be worried!”, Ian whispered, looking him deep in the eyes, “You just planned to murder your dad a week ago and suddenly he winds up dead! Then you start to act all weird and stuff! I know there is somethin’ you don’t tell me and I just need to know for sure…” Mickey looked at him confused for a moment, not really knowing where Ian was going with this. Then it suddenly hit him. “I didn’t kill Terry!”, he said, stressing every word. Ian watched his face to see if he was lying. “I was with you the whole time and you know it!” He still looked at him thoroughly, trying to find the truth in his words. 

“Did you order someone to kill him?”, Ian asked suspiciously without breaking eye contact. “No, I had nothin’ to do with it! I swear!”, Mickey sighed, “Don’t you fuckin’ trust me?” Ian took a step back, sitting on their bed. “ Of course I fuckin’ trust you, but what the hell was I supposed to think?”, he snapped at him. Mickey knew that Ian was right about that. He probably had been acting weird. If it had been Ian, Mickey would have been over the top worried. 

He kneeled in front of him, placing his hands on Ian’s knees. “Look, I’m not shutting you out. It’s just… I have a suspicion, who might have done it and I didn’t wanna say anythin’ until I know for sure…“ Ian sighed. “Just tell me you’re not in trouble or gettin’ into somethin’!”, he demanded, putting his hands on Mickey’s, “I don’t wanna lose you again!” Mickey leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on Ian’s lips. “Not in trouble and not planning on gettin’ into somethin’!”, he replied assuringly. The corner of Ian’s mouth twitched into a pleased smile, before he suddenly grabbed Mickey by his shirt and pulled him on the bed with him.

They kissed passionately and Ian ran a hand down Mickey’s pants. “Been a while…“, he gasped, feeling Mickey’s dick harden under his touch. Mickey responded by pulling him close again and pressing their lips together. They were about to undress, when they heard a knock at their door. “Are you comin’ down? Dinner will be ready soon!”, Anastasia’s friendly voice sounded from the other side. They looked at each other shortly before Ian replied: “We’ll be right down!” 

When they heard her walking away from the door again, they let out a relieved laugh. “Jesus, I feel like we’re teenagers again!”, Ian chuckled, leaning his forehead on Mickey’s. “We should probably defer this until later!”, Mickey suggested, still stroking over Ian’s body, like he didn’t mean what he just said. Ian moaned from the touch. “We probably should…”, Ian agreed half-heartedly before Mickey stood up to straighten his clothes. Ian slapped his ass with a giggle, before getting up himself. Mickey looked at him quizzically. “Just a friendly reminder that that ass belongs to me!”, Ian smirked. Mickey returned the smirk, grabbing Ian by the hips and pushed him towards the door. “Alright, you keep it in you pants now! We gotta do family shit!”, he replied, laughing. Ian opened the door and they went downstairs.

 

After dinner, Mandy and Ian helped Jerry clean up, while the kids played in the garden. Anastasia sat on the stairs of their porch watching them play catch. Mickey sat down beside her and she immediately took his hand in hers. It was a small and gentle gesture that Mickey hadn’t quite gotten used to yet, but it was filled with so much love that he couldn’t help but let it happen. Even though he had carried around so much anger for his mother before, it was hard not to love her back, since she had never really seemed to stop loving him or Mandy. 

Still, the strange feeling of her involvement in Terry’s death hadn’t let go of him and it was chewing on his insides that there was something bad to follow. “How are you feelin?”, he asked her in Ukrainian, trying to sound as casually as possible, “Must be really relieved that Terry’s gone.” She flinched, when he said his name, so he squeezed her hand, trying to calm her. “Yes… I’m just happy we’re all safe!”, she answered, barely able to hide the uncertainty in her voice. He looked over at her and she smiled shyly at him. He was sure, she wouldn’t tell him just like that. Who ever would?

He watched Yevgeny chase Darya and Oleksiy around a tree. They all looked so carefree and he was immensely happy about that. God knows, what he had to worry about at that age. It wasn’t nearly as innocent as the children in front of him. He squeezed Anastasia’s hand again and sighed. “Mama,” he said carefully, knowing that she would respond to that, “what did you do?” Her eyes widened and she stared at him disbelievingly. “What… What do you mean?”, she stuttered but her reaction seemed like an admission of guilt. There was no real confusion behind it. She just looked like she got caught. 

“Terry.”, he replied shortly, “Bullet to the head.” She began to breath heavily, squeezing his hand tighter. “I… How… How do you know?”, she asked confused, avoiding his gaze. He ran circles on her hand with his thumb. “Your reaction, when I told you made me suspicious. Your reaction now made me know for sure.”, he answered calmly. She breathed in deeply and laid one hand on her chest. “Did you tell anyone else?”, she asked anxiously. He shook his head and she seemed relieved about that.

“Please don’t tell Jerry about this… he doesn’t know!”, she begged worriedly. He frowned at her. “He doesn’t know what exactly?”, he asked baffled. She sighed, closing her eyes. “He doesn’t know I paid a hitman to kill Terry.”, she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to steady her breathing again. Mickey nodded. He knew she couldn’t have done it herself. “How do you know a hitman?”, he continues to ask. 

She took a deep breath and looked down at their joined hands, running a finger over the letters on his knuckles. “I had affiliations with the Ukrainian mafia… someone still owed me a favor… ”, she explained, still avoiding his gaze. “Ukrainian mafia?”, he repeated. She nodded. “After I left y-- After I left, I went to New York… I knew one of my cousins was living there. Terry didn’t know about him, so I felt safe there. He protected me and I worked for him in return.”, she continued. A tear fell down her cheek and she brushed it away quickly. Fortunately, the children were to busy running around to realize that their mother and grandmother was crying. 

Mickey thought about what she had just told him and something clicked in his head. “Odessa mafia… “, he mumbled, “Your cousin’s part of the Odessa mafia?” She looked at him with big tear-stained eyes and nodded. “Was.”, she added, “He got killed in a shooting…” Mickey swallowed hard. He knew about the Odessa mafia. Terry had told them all about them as kids. He had always spoken about the Odessa mafia with the deepest respect. Getting killed by one of them was probably irony of fate.

“Are you part of them?”, he asked cautiously. She shook her head vigorously. “No… never really was. I just worked for them. I went to Carbondale after my cousin got shot, but you know… it’s hard to… they don’t forget you that easily.” She sighed again and fell silent. “So… is someone comin’ for you then?”, Mickey asked after a while. She shook her head again. “No I finally cut ties with them all… and they don’t snitch either. You don’t have to worry about that.”, she emphasized, trying to smile. 

He ran his free hand over his face. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ.”, he sighed and she laughed a little before her face turned serious again. “We are safe… I finally protected my family from that monster. I couldn’t let him hurt you again!”, she said, looking him in the eyes, “I don’t regret anything! He needed to be dealt with and I couldn’t let you do it!” He leaned back on the stairs and rested his elbows on them. “You didn’t have to… “, he started but Anastasia shook her head again. “I had to… It was the least I could do after leaving you! I should have done that a long time ago.”

He looked up at the sky that was turning pink now from the sunset. “Why didn’t you?”, he asked curiously. She followed his gaze. “I didn’t have the money… “, she said calmly, “And he had been no threat when he was locked up.” He chuckled. Terry had always been a threat, maybe not an imminent one in prison but still. “What money can’t buy… “, he sighed. 

“It bought your freedom, too Mikailo… “, she whispered quietly. He turned his head slightly so he could look at her. “You mean from Terry?”, he asked. “No, I mean from prison… “, she responded with a small smile on her face, “I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time, but I didn’t know how… “ He frowned at her. Did he just hear that right? “You did what?”, he asked confused. She raised a hand and rested it on his cheek. “I paid Sammi Slot to drop the charges… I hoped you would come back, when you knew you wouldn’t have to go to prison again and you did!”, she answered. 

He gaped at her disbelievingly. The question why Sammi had dropped the charges for attempted murder had bothered him since they told him at the Mexican border, when he had turned himself in. He had just always assumed that she had a change of heart, never in a million years, could he have imagined his mother having anything to do with it. “What the fuck?!”, he whispered still staring at her. She smiled again. “You know everything, Mickey… my darkest secrets. Please don’t tell anyone!”, she begged insecurely. He shook his head slowly, still trying to make sense of what she had just told him. “What… How… Why… ?”, he stuttered, when someone gently laid his hands on his shoulders and kissed his neck. 

“What’s up?”, Ian asked happily, laying his chin on Mickey’s shoulder. Mickey was still too baffled to speak, so Anastasia answered him, switching to English again. “Nothing much… Thank you for helping Jerry in the kitchen!” She smiled her motherly smile and stood up from the porch, “I think we should get the kids to bed. It’s getting late!” 

Mickey felt like someone had just knocked him off his feet. He couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t understand it. Couldn’t wrap his head around it. His mother was the reason, he wasn’t still in prison. His mother was the reason they were safe. After all these years he had closure. There was no more mystery. No more fear. No more anger or disappointment. His mother had kept him safe. In the end, she had kept her family safe and he couldn’t help but feel grateful she was in his life again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the end mother lion kept her babys safe :)
> 
> Thanks for the ride! I hope you enjoyed it!


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